


Grounded in the gardens of the future

by Anime_fangirl823



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Anal Sex, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Blow Jobs, Bottom Keith, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt, I'm fixing this, Keith & Lance - Freeform, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Fluff, Klance smut, Korean Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Mysterious illness, Pining Keith (Voltron), Plot With Porn, Sleep Deprivation, Slow Burn, Smut, corrupted keith, klance, klance happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 11:48:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17043179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anime_fangirl823/pseuds/Anime_fangirl823
Summary: Keith had been gone for two years. He gets a distress call but when he goes to check it out something happens to him and he ends up back on earth with a messed up leg. He has to live with Lance until his leg heals and they end up bonding over some old memories while Keith tries to remember what happened to him.





	1. Chapter 1

“Keith’s log number 860, I’ve been traveling across galaxies aiding in relief efforts and everything seems to be going well, the universe seems at peace.” Keith sat in the cockpit talking to the stupid recorder Lance had given him after the Allura day dinner they had had four decapheobs ago. He told him to record everything he heard and saw on his travels. “Everything seems to be at peace for the time being.”

Kosmo sat behind him, still curious as to why the one he follows talks to a tiny black box all the time, his head tilted to the side.

A ping on his screen caught Keith’s attention, it was a distress beacon, he hadn’t gotten one of those in over a year, and it was coming from an old Blade base. He tapped the sensor, but all he got was a hissing sound through the com.

“Hello, this is Keith, leader of the Blade relief organization, are you in danger or are you hurt?”

Hissssssss*

“Hello, can you hear me, this is Keith, leader of the Blade relief organization, do you need help?”

Hissssssss*

“Come in… do you need help… is anyone there?”

Nothing, the audio cut out, not even the hiss remained. He couldn’t ignore it, he hasn’t heard one in so long there’s no way it could be a fake. He looked back at Kosmo who nodded, then back out to the stars.

“Okay, let’s go check this out then.”

Meanwhile, back on Earth~

Lance lay on his couch staring up at the ceiling. His phone continuously buzzed on his chest, probably Darren and Cas trying to get him to go out drinking again, but that was honestly the last thing he wanted to do tonight, he was still hungover from the night before. He rolled his head to the side and the first thing that caught his eye was the pictures of all of them, that is all minus, Keith.

He sat up and angrily fumbled his communicator out of his pocket. He started rifling through contacts until one name in particular popped up. Keith. He smashed the call button and pulled the holo-screen up. He waited and waited, but no answer, same as it’s been for the last two decapheobs. He was tired of being ignored.

The communicator went flying across the room and hit the wall, bouncing a couple times as it hit the floor. ‘Idiot, why would I think tonight would be any different, I thought we were friends, but I guess he’s too busy for me now’ He thought as he huffed back against the couch, leaning his head back looking up to the ceiling once more.

There was a quick flash of light and a surge of electricity through the room. The sudden sounds of heavy panting and a light whimper followed by a loud thud that shook the room. Lance jolted back up to find Cosmo laying in a heap across the room from him.

“Kosmo, buddy, are you okay?” He got up and slowly made his way over, cautious not to scare him. “Kosmo?”

Lance walked around to his front to get a look at his face and that’s when he saw Keith spread out, blood dripping from multiple different places, his blade suit ripped from his body, deep slices filled with little pools of blood.

“Keith?” Lance rushed to him trying to stop as much blood as he could from pouring out of the raven-haired boy laying on his living room floor. “Shit, I need to call someone, but who, Shiro, no he’s too busy with that guy, I always forget his name… maybe Hunk, no he’s off cooking with Shay, Romelle, and Sal… I guess I have to call the holts.” He searched for his com he had thrown across the room, having to fish it out from under Cosmo’s large butt. He dialed the number as he ran back to Keith’s side.

“What’s up, Lance, haven’t heard from you since Allura day six pheobs ago.” 

He didn’t have time for this, he needed to know how quickly he could get Keith to a healing pod. “Pidge, I want to get caught up, but right now is not the time.”

“Well, then we’ll have to make a time, maybe next week, I think I have Wednesday open and…”

“Pidge, Keith popped into my living room and he’s bleeding a lot and he won’t wake up and Cosmo is hurt too and I don’t want to lose another person in my life…” He had to stop, he was starting to get lightheaded from not breathing, it didn’t help that he was trying to drag a muscular Keith out to his rover. He groaned when he remembered he still had to drag Cosmo out too.

“Wait, wait, did you say Keith was bleeding and won’t wake up?”

“Yes, I need a healing pod ready for him when I get to the Garrison, can you do that?” He was trying to keep his calm, he had to get him there, he couldn’t let him die, not like this.

“Of course, I’m already on my way to the pods now, Griffin and Kinkade will meet you at the doors for assistance.”

“Great,” He said sarcastically. “Can you get anyone but Griffin?”

“Do you want me to send Ina?”

“Griffin’s fine.”

“That’s what I thought.” 

The drive was unpleasant, the smell of blood shouldn’t make him so weak, he’s smelled it so much before, why was it bothering him now. The streets were fairly empty due to it being three in the morning, so Lance pushed his rover to its limits. 

It was just as Pidge had told him, James and Ryan were waiting for him at the front entrance. The light spilling out from behind them made them shadows in the night. James was the first to the rover, opening the passenger door.

“Both of you take Kosmo, I’ll take Keith.” Lance eyeballed James as he shot him a dirty look before heading to the backseat with Ryan. Lance hoisted Keith from the car, “Do you guys got him, he’s a bit bigger than I remember,” He said as he watched the other two struggling to hold up the giant space wolf.

“Yeah, I think we’ll manage, but how the hell did you get it out to the rover yourself,” James grunted.

“It might have something to do with the altean energy in me, I don’t know… agh, we don’t have time for this.” Lance rushed past them and into the building. They made it to the med bay where Pidge and Matt sat waiting for him, the pod door already open and waiting.

“Strip him and get him in the body suit.”

Lance’s face turned bright red at that order. Strip him, oh god, I have to strip him, come on Lance, you can do this, just don’t think about his big strong muscles or his… “Are you sure you want me to do it?”

“I’ll gladly do it,” James chimed in from across the room.

“Oh no, no, no, no, you’re not going anywhere near him, I’ll do it.” Lance quickly began to pull what was left of his blade bodysuit off his shoulder.

They got him into the pod and stepped back, all they could do now was wait.

About three hours in, Keith’s vitals were dropping fast, his face was even paler than normal, his body even seemed to be shivering. Lance was getting seriously worried at this point, maybe if he would have drove faster he could have gotten him in the pod faster. He looked Keith up and down until he noticed something, something that never happened when they were in the pods. There was still blood pooling under his right leg.

“Pidge, should he be bleeding still in there?” He asked pointing to the pool of blood.

“WHAT!” She shot up from her chair and rushed over to the pod. “No, he definitely should not be bleeding still, no wonder his vitals are dropping, he’s been bleeding out this whole time.”

“Well, get him the quiznak out of there,” Lance shouted.

She ran back to the computer and started typing away. “Good thing I installed a fail-safe in case something happened and we couldn’t take the pods with us.”

She pushed one last button and the pod door swished open. Keith let out a sharp gasp as he fell from the pod. “Woah buddy,” Lance said as he caught him before he hit the ground.

Keith looked up, his breathing sharp and quick. “L-Lance.”

“Where is he bleeding from, Matt, call the medics down the hall, get one of them down here now, Griffin, I need supplies gauze, towels, alcohol etc.” Pidge continued to ramble off orders as everyone scrambled around.

Keith let out a cry of pain as Pidge placed a rag over his leg and pushed down to stop the bleeding. He could hear the faint sound of Lance in the background telling him everything was going to be okay between fighting with Pidge over things he couldn’t understand. His vision was blurry, all he could smell was blood and then… nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith finally wakes up and gets the go-ahead to leave the med bay, but only on the condition that he stay grounded on earth until his leg heals. They end up having him stay at Lance's place until he gets better.

Lance paced the room, the sedatives Pidge gave him should have warn off by now. They had somehow managed to stabilize him, but he had been out cold for six hours now and the sedatives were only supposed to last four.

Shiro walked in with two coffees, a fake smile plastered on his face. Lance knew he was trying to hide his worry, Shiro always did that so they wouldn’t worry, but why, he should be able to show his emotions now, they weren’t kids anymore. He walked over and handed him one of the cups. “I’m sure you need some of this, I know I do.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you drive eight hours straight at three in the morning.” He managed to fake a small smile before covering it with the cup, taking a sip of the bitter black liquid.

“He’s gonna be alright, Lance.”

“I hope so,” Lance sighed as he looked over at the bed.

“It’s only a leg wound.”

“Yeah, but why didn’t it heal in the pod, and what if he has some other internal things that didn’t heal either, what if he doesn’t wake up and he’s just in a coma for the rest of his life…”

“Lance, calm down, he’s gonna wake up any minute now, you shouldn’t overthink it.”

Sounds began to fill Keith’s ears, swirls of bright color filtering in through the slits of his eyes. He could hear people talking, he could see the shadowed figures scurrying across the room, hear his name being called out.

“Keith, Keith, it’s Lance, can you hear me?” 

Lance’s face came into view, those ocean blue eyes, those cute little altean marks on his cheeks. Keith reached up and placed his hand on Lance’s cheek, caressing his thumb across them. “I missed you.” He said hazily.

“Oh my quiznak, Shiro he’s delusional,” Lance shrieked as he pulled away and started nervously pacing the room. His heart was racing and he could barely breathe, the same thing that happened every time something like that happened between them, face to face, hand holding, said cradling in the arms

“What’s he talking about?” Keith asked looking over at Shiro.

Shiro chuckled, “I think you just caught him off guard.”

“All I did was tell him I missed him, is that so bad?”

“You touched my cheek, you were definitely rubbing my cheek,” He screeched, flailing his arms through the air.

“Hmm, I don’t remember doing anything of the sort.”

“Ugh… ugh… ugh…” Lance couldn’t put his words together to form anything coherent, Keith just pulled a Lance on him... but he was Lance.

“Alright you two, Keith, time to be serious, how are you feeling?” Shiro stepped closer to the bed and placed his hand on his forehead.

“Fine aside from my leg, it’s a little sore.” He winced when he tried to move it. “Okay, maybe a little more than sore.” He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. “Can anyone tell me how I got here, like on Earth in general?”

“Kosmo teleported you here, you were in pretty rough shape, good thing Lance got you here in time and noticed your leg in the healing pod,” Shiro said. “Do you really not remember, do you remember who attacked you at least?”

Keith grabbed his head trying to remember anything from before he woke up here. “Attacked? I can’t… I don’t know, all I remember is a strange distress call, and landing at an old Blade of Marmora base… that’s it.”

Suddenly, the door slid open with a swish and Matt and Pidge piled in through the door. “Keith, you’re awake,” They both said excitedly.

Pidge practically choked him out hugging him before scolding him for not visiting them for so long. “You are never allowed to be gone that long again, we miss you around here.”

“Yeah dude, you definitely need to drop by more than once every two years,” Matt said with a smile.

They called the doctor back, she did a couple tests and checked a couple of things before giving him the go-ahead to leave, the only thing was that he had to stay grounded until he was fully healed, that meant no going back out into space. So in other words, he had to find somewhere to live until he got better.

When she left everyone did the thing where they all talk without actually talking, looking back and forth with small shoulder shrugs and eyebrow raisings. Shiro finally spoke up, “Okay, well we all agreed you’re gonna stay with Lance.”

“WHAT, Shiro, I thought we were clear that he wasn’t staying with me?” Lance protested.

“Well, he can’t stay with us, we have way too much to do.”Matt and Pidge argued.

“And I have no space at my house for him, didn’t you say you had a spare room at your house?”

“Yeah I do, but I…”

“Good, then he can stay with you.”

“Gee, makes me feel great to see you guys fight over who’s getting me.”

Everyone stopped and looked at Keith, some of them rubbing the back of their necks, some of them not being able to make eye contact. “Sorry,” They all managed to say.

Lance stepped back over to the bed. “It’s cool, you can come stay with me at my place, sorry if I made you feel unwanted, it might actually be cool to have you stay with me.”

“It’s alright guys, I realize my visit was a bit of a surprise, even for me,” Keith said sitting himself up further with a sharp inhale from the feeling of his leg rubbing on the bed.

Shiro sighed, “It’s not that Curtis and I don’t want you around, we just don’t have anywhere but a couch for you to stay on, I hope you can understand.”

“Really guys, it’s fine,” Keith said with a broken smile. “Oh, how’s Kosmo doing?” He wanted to get off that topic quickly.

Pidge looked down and sighed, “Um, he’s… stable, he should be alright soon, but for now, I’m still running tests, I don’t work on a lot of giant teleporting space wolves so it may take some time.”

“It’s okay, I know you’re doing everything you can.”

“I’ll let you know the second anything happens, I promise.”

They all group hugged and then most of them filed out of the room, leaving Keith and Lance alone So Keith could get ready to leave. “If you don’t want me to stay with you I can figure something else out, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“No, you’re coming home with me, I didn’t mean to fight I just… I haven’t been feeling myself lately, it’s hard to explain.” Lance looked to the floor, he had to avoid Keith’s glare. “Oh I uh brought you some clothes, you didn’t have anything on you when you popped up, so I brought you some of mine, I figured they’d fit you since we’re about the same size.”

“Oh, cool, thanks...” He waited for a moment looking up at Lance. “Do you want to stay and watch me change?”

Lance’s face turned the reddest he’d ever seen mixing with the bright blue glow coming from his Altean marks. “Oh god, yep, nope, I’m leaving,” He said as he stormed out of the room, bumping into the table on his way out.

Keith giggled as he heard more things crash out int the hallway followed by a “Son of a…”. He looked at the clothes Lance had left sitting on the bed, a pair of grey sweatpants and a blue shirt, they were definitely Lance’s clothes.

Later, back at Lance’s place~

Keith Hobbled through the living room, Pidge had found a cane in one of the old supply closets, they didn’t really need that kind of stuff with the healing pods Pidge and Matt built, so it was all they had. He turned around to the giant case behind him. There was a ton of Voltron memorabilia, some things from the space mall adventures, the lion he’d won at the carnival on clear day, but his smile faded as he thought about who it was for, he was such an idiot to wish that Lance had won it for him instead. 

Lance came from the back hall. He had his towel draped over his shoulder and no shirt on. Keith’s cheeks heated at the sight of Lance with actual abs... and his chest, how is he supposed to focus with all that in the open? He made his way over to the couch and sat at the opposite end from Lance. “This is a really nice place, is it just you here?”

“Yeah, my family lives close by though, Luis and Lisa only live five minutes from here, I’m still the favorite uncle of course,” He smirked using his thumbs to point at himself.

Keith let out a soft chuckle. “I bet you’ll always be the favorite, you were always mine… my, my favorite paladin I mean, you know?” ‘Oh my god, I’m a disaster, I almost outed myself, what was I going to do then, there’s no way he’s interested in me, he’s still in mourning, Keith, get it together.’

Lance chuckled nervously. “Yeah, you were up there too right next to Hunk and Allura.”

He didn’t want to hear Lance talk about Allura right now, he didn’t really want to hear him talk about her at all, probably why he stopped taking his calls. It wasn’t that he hated Allura, he just hated hearing the one person he’s ever loved talk about their ex. “So, it’s getting pretty late, I think I’m gonna go try getting some sleep, I’ll see you in the morning?”

Lance’s smile weakened and he looked down at his hands. “Uh yeah, no, you should definitely get some good sleep, I hope the bed is to your liking.”

“Anything is better than the cot I slept in for the last two years.” They both laughed, then Keith got up and hobbled off to his room. 

He opened the door to the room down the hall and to the right. He was frozen in place for a moment, the room was stunning. Red walls, black carpet and ceiling, a closet with a sliding mirror door, but what caught his attention the most was the Blade of Marmora symbol etched into the headboard. What was this room supposed to be, why does he have the Blade symbol here?

The bed was even more comfortable than he imagined, it was like he was floating on a Narlonian gas cloud. Sleep was quick to take him tonight, he’d had a rough thirty-six hours.

Lance sat on the couch for a while after Keith had gone to bed. A lot of things were running through his head, but the one that always seemed to stick out was Keith’s words from tonight. ‘You were always mine’ what was that supposed to mean, and why did he get so flustered after he said it?

He finally peeled himself from the couch and headed down the hall to his door, he paused for a moment thinking about the man in the room next to him, thinking about him staying with him for a while, why did it make the butterflies in his stomach so active, why was his heart skipping a beat? He turned the knob and shook the thoughts from his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the confusion, this will be multi-chaptered, I don't know why it wouldn't change it when I tried, so have another chapter in hopes that it will fix the chapters problem.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith continues to be a disaster and Lance continues to be oblivious.

Keith sat in the bathroom hating how ridiculous he looked in Lance’s clothes, they fit well but the blue just didn’t suit him. He hobbled his way out to the kitchen where he found Lance cooking breakfast.

“You’re up early,” He said as he took a seat at the island.

“Yeah, I’m usually always up this early, gotta tend to the crops and junk, hurry and eat, my family will be here soon to start the day.” Lance placed a plate full of eggs and bacon and hashbrowns. It all smelled so good, his mouth was watering.

“Hey, do you think we could take a trip to a shop or something soon, I need some new clothes, these just aren’t my style, no offense.” He tugged at the collar of the bright fabric shirt.

Lance chuckled, “Sorry, I forget that you only like black on black, with maybe a hint of red in there.” The look Keith shot him made him snort. “Okay, we can go to the mall tomorrow, I’ll let the others know when they get here.”

“Thanks.”

After breakfast, they found their way out to the fields, a lot of Lance’s family was already waiting. Silvio and Nadia, who were much bigger than Keith remembered, yelled out, “Uncle Lance!” while running at him.

“Oh you two, I see you almost every day, how can you still be this excited to see me?” Keith never wanted that smile to fade, the one he got when he was with family, a smile Keith had gotten a few times himself.

“You're our favorite uncle, duh,” Nadia said with a smile.

“More like, uncle Lance gives them cookies from Hunk all the time,” Marco added popping up behind them.

“Hey, you don’t become favorite uncle without a little bit of bribery,” Lance laughed. “Guys, you remember Keith, right?” Lance asked turning his attention towards Keith.

Lance’s mother walked up to him. “Welcome back Keith, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you, Mrs. McClain, it’s good to be back.”

She turned to Lance who straightened up. “Lance, are you really going to have this man work, look at his poor leg.”

“Mama, of course not, I just… I just wanted him to come see you guys, he was up anyway, he’s just gonna go back to the house and rest.”

“As much as I don’t want to,” Keith grumbled.

“Well, you heard what the doctor said, you have to rest.”

“Yeah, whatever, I just don’t see why I have to sit around, I’m fine, I’m walking now aren’t I?”

“It doesn’t matter, she said what she said, you can’t walk around on it too much.”

Marco leaned over to Rachel and whispered, “They are bickering like an old married couple.”

“We can only hope, just don’t jinx it,” She whispered back. 

“Fine, I’ll go, but I’m not gonna like it,” Keith grumbled.

“Never thought you would.” They stopped when they realized they weren’t alone. Everyone was staring at them, Rachel and Marco giggling in the background.

“How about I come cook for you one of these nights, as a welcome back sort of thing,” His mom said with a big smile.

Keith waved his arms, “You don’t have to do that just for me.”

“There’s no use in fighting her, she’s gonna do it anyway,” His father said stepping forward and placing his arm around her. “Besides, you’re practically family now.”

“Pop pop!” Lance groaned. “Keith is gonna go now, if you guys are gonna come over to help then maybe you should all do something, to you know, help.”

They all said their goodbyes and went off in different directions leaving Lance and Keith alone in the field. The wind blew through the juniberries filling the air with the sweet citrus like scent. Keith turned and started to head back up to the house, but was stopped by a hand wrapped around his wrist.

Lance let go, immediately turning red in the face. “Sorry, I just, I just wanted to apologize for my families aggressive nature, they mean well, but like I can tell them to back off if it’s too much for y…”

“Lance,” Keith interrupted, “It’s fine, I don’t mind it, I’ve never really had a big family, hell for the longest time I was alone and had no one, so it’s kind of nice.”

Lance smiled, his face turning even brighter red, the little marks on his cheeks glowing under his hands as he tried to hide it from Keith. Why was he getting so flustered every time Keith looked at him, why was his heart pounding again.

Keith turned and walked back up to the house, his own cheeks glowing a bright red. ‘Damn it, pull it together Keith, he’s going to find out you have a thing for him, then what are you going to do, he’ll kick you out and never talk to you, I just have to keep this to myself, I can’t let him find out.’ He thought as he closed the front door behind him.

Keith spent the next several hours trying to figure out what to do, continuously looking up at the clock to find out it’s only been minutes since the last time he looked. He took a bath, made himself lunch, watched a bit of the show they made about them, then tried to take a nap, with no luck.

He sat up in his bed and groaned loudly. “This is so boring, I need something to do… maybe Lance has that video game console in his room, should I learn how to play, it can’t be any harder than flying a giant robot lion through space, right?”

He hobbled his way across the hall to Lance’s door. He placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it, but before he pushed it open he thought to himself, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t go in there, rooms are private things right, he’s not going to want me rifling through his stuff.’

He removed his hand from the door and stepped back, just in time too. He heard the front door creak open and the sound of footsteps across the hardwood, it was weird, but it sounded like more than one set. Lance came into view at the end of the hall.

“Hey, I was just coming to look for you, your mom and Kolivan are here.” 

Just as he said it Krolia came running around the corner. “Are you okay, what happened, is there anything I can do for you?” She was practically crushing him with her hug.

“Krolia, he’s fine, it’s just a leg wound, calm down before you crush him,” Kolivan said placing his hand on her shoulder.

She let go and backed up a bit, dusting herself off and straightening herself up. Keith gasping for air. “Sorry, I got a bit carried away, the small one, Pidge, called and said you were hurt, so we got here as fast as we could.”

“You could have just called me,” Keith said a bit embarrassed.

“What kind of mother would I be if I just called you, I’ve missed too much already, I promised I’d make up for all the time I was gone and I’m going to do just that.”

“I’m just gonna leave the three of you to it.”

“Lance wait,” Keith hadn’t even thought before he said it, but now that he had, he had to figure out something to say. “I uh, I was wondering when you were planning on being done, I’m going crazy in this house by myself.” ‘Wait, was that too forward, oh no, what did I just say?’

‘There’s that blush again, why am I blushing, is it because of Keith, why is it always Keith that makes me feel like this?’ Lance thought to himself. “Um, well, I was actually about to finish up for the day, are you all hungry, I’ve been wanting to make this new recipe Hunk gave me.”

“Uh, sure, I could eat.” He looked up at his mom and Kolivan. “How about you two?”

They both looked at each other and smiled. Krolia turned back to Keith and said, “I think we’re good, you two have a good dinner, we have some stuff to do back on the ship.”

“Oh, um, okay, I’ll see you guys tomorrow or whenever.”

“Yeah.” And with that they headed out, Krolia giggling as she closed the front door

Lance chuckled nervously, “Well then, I guess they weren’t hungry, I’m gonna take a shower, then I’ll start cooking.”

“Okay, is there anything you want me to do, I can get something started or…”

“No, it’s fine, you just go wait for me in the kitchen, I won’t be long.”

Before Keith could say anything Lance was rushing to the bathroom. He decided to do what he said and hobbled into the kitchen. It was quiet, so quiet he could hear the water running in the bathroom, but it wasn’t just the water he could hear, Lance was singing or at least it sounded like it, it was so muffled he couldn’t really hear the words. He was intrigued, he wanted to know what he was singing, it sounded… beautiful. He got up from the stool and limped his way to the door of the bathroom.

♪ Your eyes like gems  
Shining so bright  
You were always  
In my spotlight  
I love the way  
You say my name  
You’re not playing   
Not one single game  
You mean so much to me  
My one to be  
You mean so much to me  
My one to be ♪

His heart started pounding out of his chest, his breathing quickening. The water shut off and he rushed back to the kitchen, quickly plopping himself onto the stool he’d been sitting at before. The bathroom door opened, his heart was pounding so fast it was hard to breathe.

“I’m just gonna get dressed and then I’ll be in there.”

Oh god, now he was thinking about Lance being naked, walking through the house with only a towel on. ‘What is wrong with me, he’s my friend, I can’t think about that kind of stuff.’ Keith tried to pound the images from his head with his palm.

“What are you doing.”

Keith ceased his actions and looked up at Lance, who was now fully dressed and staring at him with a confused face. “Uh, sorry, I was… uh.” ‘Say something, he’s going to think you’re weird.’ “There was a bug and I was trying to kill it, I think I got it.”

“Pfft, yeah, okay.” He went on and started pulling things out for dinner.

Dinner was fairly silent on Keith’s end, he was embarrassed. Imagine if Lance would have caught him, he would have kicked him out for sure, he would call him a perv and kick him to the curb, why did he have to be so nosey? That song though, it sounded so beautiful coming from him, his voice is just as amazing as his aerial skills.

“Hey, if you’re not hungry you could have just told me.” Lance’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, for a minute he had almost forgotten he was at the kitchen table.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll eat.” He stabbed a piece of meat with his fork and stuck it in his mouth. It was really good, but how could it not be when it’s Hunk’s recipe.

Lance sighed, “Is everything okay, you seem… off tonight.”

“Hmm.” Keith looked up from his fork. “Everything’s fine, w-why, h-how do I seem off?”

He narrowed his gaze. “I’m not sure, but I’ll figure it out.”

‘I hope not, because it would ruin everything between us.’ He thought. “I swear, I’m fine, it’s gotta be because I’m stuck here, I’m gonna go mad.”

“Sorry being here sucks so much for you.” Lance was a bit salty about the statement that was just made, he had waited two years to finally see Keith again and he hates it.

“Hey, I didn’t mean here in this house, i-it was meant as in here on earth.” Keith struggled to keep this dinner afloat, he felt like everything he said was being turned around on him.

“It’s fine, I know you don’t want to be here, you’d rather be flying out in space with your new friends, the ones who once tried to kill us, I mean Zethrid actually almost killed you, she was going to slit your throat.”

“They’re not like that anymore, Lance, they’re actually really ni…”

“Don’t even with the whole nice thing, Look, I can get past it and say hi to them, but I definitely wouldn’t choose to spend every day with them.”

“You know, you say something’s off with me, but I think it’s you who’s off, I think I’m gonna go to bed early tonight.” He was terrified to walk away from Lance, but he had to, this conversation was going nowhere good.

Lance sat at the table, arms crossed, bottom lip puffed out. Why did he feel so bad about that fight with Keith, he was just telling him the truth. He pouted for a little bit longer before deciding he wasn’t hungry anymore. He threw his dishes in the sink and stomped down the hall to his room. But, before he reached for the door handle he noticed Keith’s door was cracked. He could hear sniffles and “Why did I say those things?” Coming from the other side.

“I’m such an idiot, I’m supposed to be his friend, not yell at him, stupid Keith, stupid, stupid, stupid.”

“You’re not stupid!” Lance yelled as he burst through the door.

“L-Lance, w-what are you doing in here?” Keith tried to wipe the tears from his face with the sleeves of his jacket, but he couldn’t control the new ones falling in their place.

Lance had never once seen Keith cry, he’d seen him down before, but never cry. “Keith, why would you ever say that you were stupid, I shouldn’t have said those things to you and I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry, you’re right, I’m a bit off tonight and it’s kind of something I don’t want to talk about, but I promise it has nothing to do with you or me staying here.” ‘Wow if that wasn’t the biggest lie ever.’

Lance walked over and sat on the bed next to him. “I know, I’m sorry about that, I’ve just kind of missed you, like it was always Lance and Keith, we were buddies, and then you just stopped visiting suddenly, and then like a year ago you stopped taking my calls, I kind of thought you were dead until I talked to Pidge.”

Keith looked away, he couldn’t tell Lance why he had stopped taking his calls, he couldn’t say it was because he hated hearing him talk about Allura, he couldn’t tell him he was in love with him and has been since the first time he laid eyes on him. “I’m sorry about ignoring you, I got busy and lost sight of what was more important, being with my friends and family.”

Lance snorted, “That sounded cheesy.”

“Well, it’s true, I should make more time for you, we’re friends after all.”

“That was even more cheesy.” Lance burst out laughing, It made Keith’s heart skip a beat, he had finally fixed the conversation.

“Okay, enough making fun of me, let’s just forget this ever happened and move on with our night.” He laid his head on the pillow and pulled the blankets up to his chin.

“What, you’re still gonna go to sleep?”

“I’m gonna try.”

Lance stood up and turned to face Keith. “Come to my room, we could play some video games, you can’t go to sleep just yet.”

“I don’t think I want to play games tonight.”

“Okay, then do you want to watch me play?”

Lance’s hand was touching his shoulder, his whole face felt like it had started on fire. “Okay,” he croaked.

Lance’s room was actually about the same size as his, but a bit more done up. The bed had a fancy headboard with a lions head carved into it. On the same wall as the door, there was a large screen, it took up almost the whole wall, and attached to it was the console he had gotten from the space mall.

Lance waved him over to the bed and he sat down, a bit nervous to be alone in Lance’s room... with Lance. He didn’t think his heart would ever stop pounding like this. He turned everything on and sat down on the opposite side of the bed. Keith caught himself staring at Lance’s smile as he pulled up the game, he looked so happy in that moment, like a little kid who just got a piece of candy.

“You don’t have to be so stiff, why don’t you try relaxing for once.”

“Sorry, I’ve never really hung out with someone before, aside from Shiro, but that was more like hanging out with a brother or like my dad, and on the castle ship it was always the seven of us and I didn’t really do anything but train.”

“What, we went to the pool that one day.”

“We got stuck in the elevator, fought while trying to climb through the shaft, and I don’t think we ever actually got to swim.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that,” He said rubbing the back of his head.

“It’s alright, I’ll get used to it one of these days.”

“Yeah.”

About an hour or two later~

Lance hadn’t heard from Keith in a while, he looked over to find Keith passed out. He looks so cute when he’s not frowning. The strands of hair not pulled back into the ponytail were scattered across his face. Lance reached out and brushed them back behind his ear. ‘Did he just smile, oh Quiznak, why was that so cute, wait did I just say cute, what’s going on with me right now.’

He contemplated waking him up and helping him back to his own room, but for some reason, he also wanted to watch him sleep just a little longer. Keith’s eyebrows furrowed and a sharp inhale was taken through his barely parted lips. Was he having a bad dream?

The pain in his face disappeared the second Lance’s hand touched his forehead. He ran his fingers through his hair, it was just as soft as he’d remembered it to be, he’d only touched it once before when he helped him pull it back into a ponytail, the last time he’d seen him. There’s no way the hair tie was the same from that day, he’d surely lost it and replaced it by now.

The screen went dark, it was set to shut off after a half hour of inactivity. Lance had passed out himself, his hand still tangled in Keith’s hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays everyone!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance go shopping and Lance and Pidge decide to keep a secret from Keith.

Keith rolled over, groaning as his wound rubbed against the fabric of the sheets, only these sheets felt different. His eyes shot open and the first thing that came into sight was Lance’s soft sleeping face just a foot from his, his arm stretched out his fingers entangled in his hair. He bolted upright and whipped the covers off. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and took one step, pain shooting up his leg and into his hips. “Agh, Quiznak,” he cried out as he fell to the ground.

“Keith?” He froze when he heard Lance’s voice. “Keith, are you okay?” He could hear the creak of the bed as Lance’s weight shifted and he started to crawl to the other side of the bed. “Here, let me help you up.”

“NO!” ‘Why did I scream, I’m such an idiot, this day is already a disaster and I just woke up.’ “Sorry, I just… I need to leave, I’m sorry I fell asleep in here, i-it won’t happen again.” He caught his footing and quickly limped his way out of the room.

He made his way back to his room, heart pounding, palms sweating. “How did I let myself fall asleep in there and why was his hand touching my head.”

Back in the bedroom, Lance sat on his heels at the edge of the bed, Keith’s side was still warm, the pillow still formed to his head. He allowed himself to fall back, Keith’s scent filling the air as he rolled over onto his side. What happened last night, why didn’t he wake Keith up, why did he let him sleep in his bed, why did he sleep in the bed with Keith, and why the hell did he play with Keith’s hair until he passed out?

He groaned and rolled back over to his side to grab his com from his bedside table. He pulled up the texts from Shiro and started typing.

Lance: Hey, I really need to ask you something, I know you’re busy, but I feel like you’re the only person who might be able to help.”

………

…….

Shiro: I can’t talk right now, but I will call you the second I get free time.

Lance: Yeah, okay, thanks.

Typical, this is the same response he’s gotten from everyone but Pidge, she was the only one that actually tried to make time to hang out with him and even that didn’t happen as often as he’d like.

“Great, I guess I’ll just keep being a confused mess until then.” He let out a loud groan and got up to get dressed.

Ten minutes later, Lance was knocking on Keith’s door. “Keith, can we talk?”

“Umm, sure, of course we can.”

Lance tried to open the door but it was locked. “Buddy, you gotta let me in.”

“No… uh, I… can we just talk through the door?” Keith sat slumped up against the door, face in his hands.

“Well, that’s gonna be kinda hard, but I’ll make it work.” He turned and put his back to the door, sliding down until his butt hit the floor. “Keith, you know we’re friends, right?”

Keith sighed, “Yeah.”

“You don’t have to be sorry for falling asleep in my room, we’re both guys, didn’t you ever have sleepovers when you were little?”

His response was a bit quiet, but Lance was still able to make out a small, “No”.

“Really, so that was your first time sleeping in someone else’s bed?”

“You don’t have to make fun of me for it,” Keith grumbled.

“No, I’m not making fun of you, it’s just… sometimes I forget how you grew up and forget that you didn’t have the same experiences as me.” The other side of the door was silent. “If you’ll let me, I’d like to help you experience all of the things you missed out on when you were a kid.” More silence from the other end. “Keith, you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Well, what do you say?”

“I think… I think that would be nice as long as it’s you I’m doing it with.”

Lance’s felt his cheeks heat up and sure enough, the marks began to glow brightly. He heard the sound the lock clicking and before he had time to react the door was being pulled open. He fell back onto the ground, his head ending up between Keith’s feet. He looked up and swore the marks got brighter.

Keith burst out laughing as he stepped back and stretched out his arm, offering Lance his hand to help him up. Lance’s heart skipped a beat, it wasn’t often he got to hear his fearless leader laugh like that and it was always for him. He grabbed his hand and pulled himself up.

“You ready to go to the mall?”

“Yes please,” he said tugging at Lance’s shirt he was still wearing. “Not that I’m not grateful for what you borrowed me.”

Later at the mall~

Keith and Lance walked through the clothing shop, grabbing a couple things off the shelves before heading to the dressing room. It wasn’t too packed today since it was the middle of the day on a Tuesday.

“I don’t see why I have to try it on, I know what size I am,” Keith complained as Lance pushed him behind the curtain and pulled it closed.

“Just shut up and try on the clothes.”

Keith grumbled under his breath as he threw the clothes on the chair and started to pull his clothes off. Pulling the shirt on he realized he couldn’t pull it down over his chest and also realized he couldn’t get the damn thing back off. He went into full panic mode trying to pull the shirt off.

He stopped, defeated, and knew that his only option was to have Lance come help him. “L-Lance, I... I think I might need some help in here.”

“What do you mean you need h…” Lance walked through the curtain and instantly couldn’t form any more words.

There stood Keith, in nothing but black boxer briefs, arms and head stuck in a black shirt that was probably two sizes too small. His chest was massive and since when were his abs so defined, they definitely got more defined from the last time he’d seen him, not that he stared at Keith’s abs all the time. But what got him the most was the bulge in those briefs.

“Lance, are you gonna help me or not, I’m literally stuck in this shirt.”

Lance shook his head and looked away. “Umm, y-yeah, sorry, just give me a minute.” He took in a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down, it was weird that he was feeling this way, it’s not like he’s never seen someone in their underwear before, but it felt so different with Keith.

He grabbed the shirt and started to pull it off, Keith exhaling when he was finally free from the shirt. “Thank you, I guess I don’t know what size I am anymore… are you okay?” He scratched at the back of his head while grinning nervously.

Lance was already escaping through the curtain when Keith asked him that. “Yeah, fine, just need to go… find you something that fits.” He slipped out and stumbled off to find bigger sizes and try and clear his head.

Keith sat in the room waiting for him to come back, a bit confused at how Lance had been acting. He usually would have made a joke or flirted in some way or another, but instead, he just ran off.

Suddenly, a hand appeared through the curtain holding a couple of black shirts, he recognized the caramel skin and grabbed the shirts. It was a little weird that he wouldn’t come in, he always used to barge in on everything.

“Sorry, I hope these ones fit, I got a couple sizes bigger.”

“Thank’s Lance.” He pulled the shirt over his head and it actually fit this time. He pulled the pants on, which fit him thank god, and called out to Lance. “Hey, at least the pants fit on the first try.”

“Y-Yeah.” He sat outside the curtain trying not to imagine Keith in his underwear, the treasure trail that led down his stomach. “Oh, my Quiznak.”

“Is something wrong?” Keith asked popping out from behind the curtain.

Lance yelped, “What, why would something be wrong?”

“You’re acting weird, are you sick, should we go home?”

“No, no, no, I’m fine, no need to leave.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Keith finished trying on all the clothes, they were pretty much all the same color, black on black, what he was used to, and they headed to the cashier to pay.

It was already lunchtime by the time they made it out of the shop, so they decided to head to the food court to find something to eat. Lance pointed out this strange alien looking restaurant.

“Have you tried this place, it’s actually pretty good, Hunk brought me here last time he visited, you gotta try the blarama, it sounds weird but it tastes amazing.” Lance excitedly grabbed Keith’s hand and pulled him along.

Why was Keith so gay for this boy, that smile, the way his eyes lit up when he talked about things he liked, the feeling of his hand wrapped up in his own, it was so warm he never wanted him to let go.

They sat down and ate, the smell was a bit off-putting, but it tasted quite good, almost like a well-seasoned steak, but in vegetable form with like a mashed potato consistency.  
After lunch, they ended up going back home; Lance was worried about Keith’s leg despite it feeling the best it’s felt in days. Lance found himself alone on the couch while Keith went to shower and change into his new clothes. He turned on the Tv and sat back, he wasn’t actually going to watch it he just wanted it on for background noise. 

Memories began flowing in like someone had opened the floodgates to his mind. Thoughts of being back on the castle ship with the others, Hunk always cooking, Pidge grumbling to herself while working on some new tech she’d found, Keith training constantly. He actually kind of missed it, they were his second family and he didn’t get to see them as much anymore, maybe once a year if that.

The bathroom door opened snapping him back to reality, without thinking he looked up and immediately looked away. Keith had come out with only his towel on, which shouldn’t have affected Lance the way it did since he’d seen Keith in his underwear a couple hours before, but the fact that he knew he was completely naked under there was enough to cause his brain to stop working.

“You okay, Lance,” Keith asked stopping for a moment at the entrance to the hallway.

“Fine,” His voice cracked. “I’m totally fine.”

“Okay…” Keith turned and headed to his room, a bit more confused then he had been a moment earlier. Why is he acting so weird today?

Please tell me Shiro texted me back already, now I really need to talk to him. He pulled his com from his back pocket and flipped it on. He had a message, but it wasn’t from Shiro, it was from Pidge.

Pidge: I need you to come to the Garrison, I found something in Keith’s stuff, just don’t tell him you’re coming here.

Lance: Well, what the Quiznak am I supposed to tell him then???

Pidge: Idk just make something up.

Lance groaned dropping his com to the couch. What was he going to tell Keith, and why did he have to leave Keith behind, it was something she’d found in his stuff, shouldn’t he see it too?

He walked back to the bedroom and knocked on the door. “Hey Keith, I have to run out for a bit, I’ll be back in a bit, are you gonna be alright on your own?”

The sound of footsteps followed by the door unlocking and opening. “I’ll be alright, my mom just messaged me and said she’s coming over, so I won’t be alone.”

“Cool, see you later.” Thank the stars he didn’t ask where I was going.

Later at the Garrison~

Lance walked down the long Garrison hallway to Pidge’s lab, running into Colleen on the way. She was tending to her plants when he walked past. “Lance, Lance come in here for a minute,” She called out.

“What’s up, Colleen?”

“I need your help holding something.” She handed him a jug of liquid then proceeded to say, “Don’t get any of that on you, it doesn’t react well with skin.

He froze, terrified to move and spill even the tiniest drop on him. “Whatcha working on,” He asked.

“I’m testing this new growth serum on my plants, if I made it correctly it should help the plants grow faster.”

“Boy, wouldn’t that be nice,” He smiled.

The door slid open behind them, followed by some stomping sounds, then an angry Pidge came into view around the shelf. “Mooom, I called him to come here, I need him.”

“Oh come now, he’s just helping me hold something, you can have him when we’re done.”

“But, I need him now.”

“I don’t care young lady, and don’t talk to your mother that way.”

“I’m twenty, I’ll talk to you however I want… oh no, not that face, okay fine, you can have him, come find me when you’re done, Lance.”

Lance was still trying not to move, “Um, okay.”

He spent about a half hour following Colleen around the lab, helping her with various things until she said he could go. He slipped out and walked a couple feet to Pidge’s lab. He found her sulking at her computer, knees up to her chest.

“So, what was it you wanted to show me,” Lance asked causing her to jump.

“Oh right, I wanted to show you what I found in the remains of Keith’s suit.” She pointed to the pile of tattered clothes off in the corner. “It took me a while, but I was finally able to put it back together enough to work.” She held out the small recorder he had given to Keith the last time he’d seen him. “I want you to listen to something, I think it was from the day he poofed in your living room, he must have forgotten to turn it off.”

The recording started and Keith’s voice filled the room. “Are you ready to go check this out, Kosmo… which way should we go, yeah that’s the way I was thinking too… HELLO, is there anyone here, you don’t have to be afraid, I’m here to help… Oh Quiznak, what the hell is…” There was a moment of static followed by a couple different types of growling, one set clearly sounding like Kosmo, while the other was something they’d heard before. “Kosmo… get to them… ARGH… son of a… ARGH… Kosmo, no...” Sounds of a body being thrown around, Keith’s screams, and Kosmo’s growls, and whimpers were enough for Lance to pull the recorder from her hands and smash the pause button.

“Why are you playing this for me, why don’t you want Keith to hear this?”

“Well, you know how Keith is, he’s gonna hear this and want to go rushing after whatever it was.”

Lance looked down at the recorder, his brows furrowing, a snarl crossing his lips. “He can’t hear this, I don’t want him to leave just yet, I feel like he just got back.”

“I won’t tell him if you don’t, I actually got a hit on his ship yesterday, I’ve been preparing a team to go check it out.”

“Good, just make sure you’re careful.”

“Of course, also, will you let Keith know that Kosmo is doing much better and should be waking up anytime now?”

“Of course.”

A smirk crossed her face, “So, are we going to talk about you wanting Keith to stay, is my ship finally becoming canon?”

Lance was utterly confused. “What the Quiznak are you talking about, what’s a ship and a canon got to do with this, besides, I only want Keith to stay so he can heal and it’s nice having him there.”

She snickered, “Forget I said anything.”

“What, you can’t just say things like that, then tell me to forget about it.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll understand soon enough.” She giggled as Lance looked around for something to throw at her. “Don’t you dare throw that, just go home and be with Keith already.”

“Ooh, I’m gonna get you one of these days you little gremlin.”

“I’m so scared.”

Lance secretly grabbed the recorder while she wasn’t looking and stuffed it in his pocket. “Alright, I’m leaving now, come over sometime, we’d love some company.”

“That sounds like something a married couple would say,” She smirked looking over the rim of her glasses.

“Shut it.”

Back at the house~

Keith sat with Krolia at the island in the kitchen, Kolivan was off at a briefing, so it was just the two of them. Suddenly, there was a ring on her com, it was Lance, so Krolia put it on speaker phone and set it on the countertop.

“Hey, Lance,” Keith said.

“Hey, I’m on my way back now, good news, Pidge said that Kosmo’s getting better, he should be back to normal soon.”

Keith’s face lit up, excitement taking over in his voice, “That’s great, wait, you went to see Pidge.”

“W-What, no, no, no, I went to… anyway, she called me just now and told me, she said you should be able to come visit him tomorrow.”

“That’s great.”

“I should be back in ten minutes, Krolia, are you staying for dinner tonight?”

“Sure, why not, I’ve been meaning to get to know you better since my son is in l…”

“MOM!” Keith yelled covering her mouth with his hands. “We’ll see you in ten.” *Click*

'Did he just hang up on me?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year!!!  
> Comments are welcomed!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has a conversation with his mom and Lance finally gets the guts to ask him to stay.

The next couple of nights ended the same. Lance invited Keith to his room, Keith watched him play video games, one night they watched a movie, and Keith would always pass out before him.

He was still waiting on that phone call from Shiro, every night coming up with more and more questions. He felt like he wanted Keith to sleep in his bed every night from now on, but that’s weird right, he’s not… he was with Allura. In fact, he’s only ever been with girls, he’s never been attracted to a man before, but Keith was different.

It was a cold night for the middle of summer and no matter how many times Keith had fallen asleep in Lance’s bed he never seemed to get under the covers, it would have felt like he was expecting to spend the night. He laid there shivering thinking about going back to his room. The Tv was still lit meaning Lance was still up playing games, so he could easily get up and say goodnight while heading back to his room.

Suddenly there was a warmth surrounding him and the lights shut off. A blanket covered his body but that wasn’t the only thing he felt, as the bed shifted an arm wrapped around his chest and he felt Lance’s body press against his back. His gay panic set in, Lance was cuddling him, he had his arm around him, they were under the same blanket and Lance was spooning him.

He closed his eyes trying to ignore the fact that the love of his life was pressed against him and that’s when he felt fingers begin to run through his hair. It was so soothing, sending shivers down his spine. Is this why he had woken up with Lance’s fingers tangled in his hair every morning, did he do this every night? The feeling ended up causing him to pass out.

The next morning~

Keith woke up and rolled over onto his back. Lance was gone. Was that all just a dream, had he dreamt Lance spooning him and running his fingers through his hair? He shook it from his head and got up to head to his room.

When he walked out of the room he heard a familiar bark followed by a giant space wolf pouncing on him, tackling him to the ground.

“Kosmo, be careful he’s injured too,” Lance yelled, running down the hall.

“K-Kosmo,” Keith laughed as the wolf licked at his face. “Okay, okay, I missed you too buddy.”

“Sorry, he poofed in this morning, Pidge called me freaking out because he just woke up and disappeared.” Lance knelt down next to Keith and began to scratch Kosmo behind the ear. “He seems to be fully healed, is that normal for him?”

“Yeah, he usually just needs some rest and his wounds heal pretty quickly.”

“How are you doing this morning?”

“I’m good.”

“Good, you seemed cold last night, I hope you don’t mind that I put a blanket over you.”

‘So the blanket part was true, but do I dare bring up the spooning, did that even happen, I’ll just ignore it for now.’ “Thanks, yeah it was getting pretty cold last night.”

Kosmo licked at his leg and let out a soft whimper. “Don’t worry boy, I’ll be fine.” Kosmo cocked his head to the side and let out another soft whimper. “Don’t give me that, I swear I’ll be fine, look it’s almost healed anyway.” He turned his leg so they could see, it was still pretty red and swollen but it was looking better than before.

“He’ll be alright Kosmo, I’ve been taking good care of him.” He gave Kosmo a pat on the head. “Anyway, who’s hungry?”

Kosmo let out an agreeing bark and followed Lance as he made his way to the kitchen, leaving Keith sitting on the floor in the hallway. He decided this was a good time to get changed.

Krolia came to visit with him and Kosmo today while Lance was out working the fields. Keith had a lot he wanted to talk to her about. They sat on the couch after lunch and chatted while the Tv played in the background.

“Do you remember when we were in the quantum abyss?” He asked turning to face her.

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Well, there was that one vision we had that I thought was dumb and probably never going to happen.” He shifted around nervously, remembering the vision of Lance spooning him in a strange bed he’d never seen before.

“The one where you two were cuddling?” She seemed more invested in the conversation now, turning to look at him directly.

“I had this weird dream last night or at least I think it was a dream, but it was that vision and when I woke up I had the blanket on from it, the vision that is.”

“Are you sure it was a dream?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t even think Lance likes me like that, I mean he’s still hung up on Allura, he talks about her all the time.”

“Just because he talks about her all the time doesn’t mean he can’t develop feelings for you, maybe you just have to give it some time.”

“Mom, it’s been three years since she… died or became a space guardian or whatever and when she left she left with Lotor, I just, I just wish he would have loved me the way he loved her, I thought I had a chance, but everything went to shit towards the end and all I could do was comfort him through all the bullshit she was dragging him through, I mean she didn’t even love him, he wasn’t happy with her, he lost all of his brightness...” He could feel his chest getting tighter, his breaths shorter and the cloud of darkness washing over his vision.

“Calm down, take a deep breath.” She pulled him into a hug. “Follow my breaths, clear your mind and don’t think about it.”

He did as he was instructed, taking in a few deep breaths following the rise and fall of her chest and cleared his mind. After a few minutes, he was able to speak back up, “Sorry, maybe we should talk about something else.” Talking about anything lance or war-related always brought on his panic attacks, he could mostly forget about it, but there were those few moments when he couldn’t control his own mind.

“Are you good,” She asked pulling away.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“No problem.”

“I feel like I should probably get out of here as fast as I can once my leg fully heals, this place is driving me crazy.”

The front door opened and Lance came walking in, he looked like he had had a rough day and he just walked right past them without so much as a hello.

“Lance, are you alright,” Keith asked.

No answer, he just walked down the hall and through the door to his room slamming the door behind him. Keith looked over at Krolia who shrugged her shoulders and picked up her cup of coffee, taking a long sip.

Keith looked to the hallway then back to Krolia who gave him the go-ahead to go check on him. He got up and hobbled down the hall to Lance’s room. Knocking on the door he asked, “Are you alright, do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m fine, I just need you to go away.” He heard in a muffled tone.

“You sure, I feel like you are not fine, I can usually tell that about you.”

“I said go away, it should be easy for you since you do it all the time.”

“Oh o-okay, do you want me to order something for dinner?” Keith didn’t want to leave, he wanted to help Lance, he was always the one to help him through his problems. He wanted to comfort him, to make him smile again, but the door remained closed.

“Order whatever you want, I’m not hungry.”

“A-alright.” 

He hobbled his way back out to the living room and slumped to the couch. He had to fight back the tears threatening to fall.

Krolia gave him a concerned mom look. “It didn’t go well, did it?”

“I don’t get it, I know he’s upset, but he won’t tell me why, how am I supposed to help him if he shuts me out like that?”

“Keith, you can’t always fix everything, sometimes people need to work them out on their own, maybe he will tell you in the future.” She placed a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “Just give him some time, he can’t stay in his room forever.”

Keith nodded and threw his head back against the couch staring at the ceiling. “Do you think I’ll ever get the guts to tell him how I feel?”

She leaned herself back against the couch, she had to slump down a bit further due to her height. “I think you will, just don’t take too long, I want you to be happy already.”

Keith chuckled, “Yeah, thanks, mom.”

Meanwhile in Lance’s room~

Lance sat on the bed after arguing with Keith to leave. He hated what he said, but damn it he was angry. A few minutes before he had come to the front door and just before he’d opened it he heard Keith say something about leaving right away because his place was driving him crazy.

‘I mean, I knew he was going to leave eventually, I just didn’t think it was going to hurt so much. Why does he have to leave at all, why can’t I bring myself to tell him to stay, this is just like when he left for the Blade.’ Lance threw himself back against the bed and let out a low groan. “Why am I like this?”

Rolling over, a smell wafted through the air, like desert sand, steel, and a campfire. How Keith smelled like that all the time would forever be a mystery to Lance, but he loved it, it put him at ease. He closed his eyes and let the smell engulf him.

It was a few minutes or hours, Lance couldn’t tell what time it was since his curtains were drawn and it was pitch black. He heard a light tap at his door followed by a hushed voice. “Lance, I’m sorry for whatever it is that’s making you feel this way, I hope you sleep good tonight.”

The footsteps began to fade off and without thinking, he yelled out, “WAIT!” The footsteps stopped. “W-will you come in here and talk to me?”

The footsteps came back to the door and it creaked open, Keith hobbling in. He closed the door behind him and kind of leaned against it, never once making eye contact with Lance. “I, I just wanted to tell you good night, I’m sorry if I bothered you.”

“You didn’t bother me,” He said with a slight chuckle. “Are you gonna come over here or are you gonna stand by the door all night?”

He pushed himself off of the door and hobbled over to the bed, sitting on the very edge facing away from him. Lance thought it was cute the way he twiddled his thumbs nervously. “Will you tell me what made you so angry, you don’t have to, I just…” 

“You said you wanted to leave, as soon as possible if I heard right.”

“You, you heard that, um, how much did you hear?” Keith was on edge now, had Lance heard him talking bad about Allura too?

“That was it, I heard it through the window when I got back from the fields.” He shifted and pulled himself towards the end of the bed until he was sitting next to Keith. “I… I was kind of hoping you would stay for a bit, I mean I promised to do everything with you that you never got to do as a kid and we’ve only scratched the surface of that.”

“What are you trying to say?”

He sighed, sometimes Keith could be so oblivious. “What I’m trying to say is that I want you to stay, you’ve been gone for so long and I finally get to spend some time with you and…” He looked down at his hands. “I’m sorry, I’m sure you’re busy, everyone is busy, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want.”

“You want me to stay?” That didn’t sound bad, he didn’t say no. “But, I don’t want to be a burden to you, true I was busy before, but…”

Lance moved his hand closer to Keith’s and locked his pinkie finger with his, neither of them making eye contact with the other, he could hear Keith’s breath hitch. “You’re not a burden to me, I actually like having you around all the time, ponytail and all.”

Keith scoffed and they both looked at each other staring into the other’s eyes. “I guess I’ll stay as long as you want me to then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeet!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Krolia is heading out, so the boys decide to take her out for breakfast before she leaves. Pidge and Matt crash the party, some things happen in the bathroom and then again back at the house.

For the first time since the mall, Keith was actually leaving the house. Krolia was heading back out to space for a meeting, so he, Kosmo, and Lance decided to take her out for breakfast before she left.

“I feel like someone is going to say something about Kosmo,” Lance said as they walked down the street to the restaurant.

“What are they going to do, tell him to leave?” Keith pointed back to the wolf who stood taller than him and was at least triple the width.

“Good point, good point. Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I invited a couple others too, I hope you don’t mind Krolia.”

“Not at all, who is it that you invited?”

Just as she asked that they heard a loud scream. “LAANCE!” Matt came full sprint at Lance and knocked him to the ground, Pidge walking up slowly behind him.

“Sorry guys, I tried to ditch him in the alley behind the bakery but he found me,” She sighed.

“Hey, rude.”

“Can… you… get off… me,” Lance breathed, trying to push Matt off.

“Oh, right, sorry about that, it’s just been too long.” Matt climbed off him and helped him to his feet.

Pidge walked over to Krolia. “Sorry for intruding on your breakfast, I just felt horrible not making time to come see you while you were here.”

“It’s fine with me,” She said with a smile.

As expected by Lance, the people in the restaurant were not very happy about the giant space wolf, but as Keith expected, they said nothing about it. The waiter sat them towards the back and set up a small area next to the table for Kosmo to sit.

After they got settled in they began to talk, getting caught up on all of the cool things that had happened in space and with the new groups at the Garrison. Lance sat back and listened to his friends discuss all the cool adventures they’d been on over the last couple of years. He half wished he had some cool adventure to talk about, but all he had was farming stories.

He excused himself from the table telling everyone he had to go to the bathroom, but really he just wanted to escape for a moment. 

The bathroom was quiet, aside from the running water from the faucet he had turned on. He splashed some of the water into his face and wiped it off with a paper towel, staring at himself in the mirror.

All of his dreams, everything he had ever wanted to do with his life, and he was sitting on earth farming flowers. He liked farming, but it wasn’t exactly what he had expected to be doing with his future. He missed being out in space, he missed having adventures with his friends, the atlas, the lions, he missed it all.

“Lance?” A voice called for him from the bathroom door. “Are you alright in here?”

Lance turned around to see Keith standing in the doorway, a look of concern across his face. He walked in letting the door swing closed behind him and leaned up against the wall facing him.

“I’m fine, you can go back to the table, I’ll be out in a minute.”

“It doesn’t seem like it, you looked pretty upset when I walked in, did I do something, did something happen?”

“No… no, it’s not you it… it’s nothing” He looked away.

“What’s going on, you know you can tell me anything.”

“I… I just…” He can’t say it if he says it then he would have to talk about it and he really didn’t want to do that. “I just haven’t… been feeling the best lately, I haven’t been feeling well since Allura...”

Keith stepped forward and touched his hand to his forehead although he seemed tense, a pain in his face. “You do feel a little warm, do you want to go home, we can go back if you aren’t feeling…”

“I’m fine,” He interrupted pulling back from Keith’s hand, face turning red. Did Keith really believe that, is he really that easily deceived? “Let’s just go back to the table.”

As he walked towards the door he wasn’t paying attention, running into the trash can and falling forward, his face stopping just inches from the ground. Keith had his arm wrapped around his stomach pulling him back to his feet. He spun around to tell Keith to let him go, but when their eyes met he lost all train of thought, staring into those smoky gray eyes.

For a brief moment, Keith stared back before letting go and turning to head out, not saying a single word. Lance stood there frozen, had Keith’s eyes always been that beautiful, why did he leave, what just happened?

He rid himself of the thought and took in a deep breath before heading back out to the table. Keith was exceptionally quiet the rest of the breakfast, only answering questions asked of him and avoiding eye contact with him. Had he done something wrong, why was Keith suddenly avoiding him, was it because of what happened in the bathroom?

“Lance!” He was snapped back to the table by Pidge’s voice.

“What?”

“I asked you if you were planning on eating your breakfast, if not I will gladly eat it for you,” She smirked.

“Stay away you little gremlin, I, I was planning on eating it right now, I was just… thinking about something I forgot,” He replied.

She tilted her head and looked up over her glasses. “And what was it that you forgot?”

“I, uh… I forgot… I can’t remember, t-that’s the problem.” That was all a lie, he didn’t forget anything, he just didn’t want to admit he was wishing Keith would look at him with those smokey grays again.

“Sure,” She said sarcastically. She turned and continued her previous conversation with Krolia.

Well, he had gotten what he wanted, Keith was looking at him, but it was not like the bathroom, his eyes seemed glossy almost like he was holding something back, like tears. He dropped his head and began to eat the breakfast he had neglected. It was cold, no surprise there.

After breakfast, they all said their goodbyes and headed off in their respective directions. Krolia followed Keith, Kosmo, and him until she got to her ship, saying her final goodbyes, Keith continuing on back with him to his house.

“So, how’s your leg doing, it looks like you can walk on it pretty well now.” Lance had to break the silence, it was driving him crazy.

“Yeah, it feels a lot better and it’s almost healed.” Keith pulled his pant leg up to show off his calf. It really was getting better, it was barely a scab anymore.

He smiled, “That looks a lot better.” His smile faded slightly. “So, does that mean you’ll be leaving soon?”

“No, I thought I’d stay behind, a really good friend of mine asked me to stay.” A slight chuckle escaped his lips.

“Did you just… touche, Kogane.”

“I already talked to Acxa, She’s in charge until I decide to go back.”

A warmth grew inside Lance, Keith was staying and he was staying for him. “So, you’re really staying?”

“Of course I am, you asked me to, didn’t you?”

‘Holy quiznak, he actually meant it when he said he would stay as long as I want him to, I can’t believe I got Keith freaking Kogane to stay.’ His heart was racing.

“So, what are we going to do first?”

First, what did he mean by first? “What?”

“Well, you said that you would do everything with me I never got to do as a kid, so…” He stopped and turned to face him.  
He smiled, he could see the marks on his cheeks glowing from his peripheral, but he didn’t care to cover them. “So, we better get started then, I’ve got plenty planned and it’s all a secret.”

Later that night~

Keith had just gotten out of the shower and was back in his room. The shower he had taken was a bit hot, so his head was spinning. He laid on his bed waiting for the dizziness to subside. This was also a good time for his anxiety to trigger, reminding him about the bathroom.

‘He said her name again, ugh, why did I agree to stay, I’m torturing myself, but at least Lance is being really friendly, too bad that’s all it will ever be.’ He threw his hands up over his face and drug his fingers down his cheeks. ‘I’m such an idiot, he’s never going to love me, he only likes pretty girls. And why did I storm out after I caught him, I’m such a disaster, I couldn’t even make eye contact with him after that.’

Suddenly, Keith’s door creaked open and Lance walked in. “Hey Keith, do you want…” Now, this would have been fine… had Keith had clothes on, but alas, he did not. Instead, he was stark naked, spread out on his bed.

He scrambled to pull the blankets over himself while simultaneously screaming at Lance to get out. Although it didn’t really take him screaming to get Lance to leave, he was already turning around and running out.

“Why the hell are you naked, Keith?” Lance yelled through the door.

“My bath was too hot and I was… this is my damn room, why were you just walking in without knocking?” He yelled back.

“Th-This is my house, So technically that is my room and… Oh Quiznak, I’m sorry, I’m just gonna leave, I’ll be in my room pretending I didn’t see your cooo ah haha and I’m gone.”

Keith let out an inhuman shriek, his whole body turning bright red. He quickly got his clothes on and opened his door. “Lance, I’m sorry, will you please come out here and talk to me?”

“Are you clothed now?” He heard through the door.

“No, I’m standing in the hallway naked, of course I’m clothed now.”

He heard the handle jiggle and the door opened just a crack. “Can I ask you one question?”

“And what is that?”

“Has it always been that big?”

“What?” He didn’t think his body could get any redder, but apparently, it was possible.

“I mean, was it that big on the castle ship, or was that one of the other things that got bigger on your space whale trip?”

“It’s always been this size, well except for when I was a kid, that would have been awkward, but… WAAAAIT! why are you asking about it, I thought you wanted to forget about it?” He was going to turn into a cherry if he got anymore red.

He scoffed, “Well, I can’t just see a huge cock and forget about it.”

“Oh my god, can we please stop talking about it right now, this is only making things worse.”

“I’m sorry, but I mean, damn, at least you got lucky with one thing, it’s probably the biggest one I’ve..”

“LANCE! If you don’t shut your mouth right now, I will personally remove your voice box.”

He threw his hands up in surrender, “Okay, I’m done.”

Keith stepped back, exhaling a deep breath he hadn’t known he was holding in. “Just, please don’t talk about it anymore, I’m sorry, it was a mistake to come talk to you,I’m just gonna go hide under my covers.” He spun on his heels and walked back into his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay y’all, Lance will be talking to Shiro in the next update.  
> If you’re following along, let me know in the comments what you think.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance talks to Shiro about his feelings for Keith. Meanwhile, Keith is not feeling so good, so he enlists the help of someone unexpected.

‘Okay, why the hell did I ask him that, he hates me now, I’m screwed, he’s going to leave for sure.’Lance threw himself face first onto the bed. He really needed someone to talk to. He sat up and quickly grabbed his com, maybe he could call Shiro since he probably forgot to call him anyway. He dialed Shiro’s number and set the com on the bed next to him while it rang.

“Hello, Shiro speaking.”

“Shiro! You actually answered me.” His face lit up and he turned to see both Shiro and Curtis on the phone.

“What’s up, Lance, we’re kind of in the middle of something?”

“Sorry, I just… I kind of… well, I may have…”

“Lance! Can you speed it up a bit?”

“I walked in on Keith naked and then I asked him if it had always been that big!” He blurted out.

Shiro stared blankly for a moment before turning to Curtis and whispering something that sounded like, “I’m going to need a minute or two.” He turned back and took in a deep breath. “So, how did Keith take it?”

“Well, he kind of told me he was going to remove my voice box if I ever mentioned it again, other than that it wasn’t too bad.”

“Well, that seems like a pretty Keith answer.”

“Ugh, I ruined my life, he’s never going to talk to me again.”

“I’ll talk to him, but if there’s nothing else I-”

“Wait, umm, there was a different reason I asked to talk to you the first time.” Lance was scrambling to keep him on the phone.

“Oh right, I forgot to call you back then, I’m sorry, what is it you needed to talk about?”

Lance was a bit hesitant, he wasn’t really sure what it was he was feeling towards Keith. “Well, I’ve been having this really weird feeling every time I’m around Keith, like my heart beats faster and my face starts to get hot, sometimes my Altean marks glow, I mean I know I’m not gay, I’ve only ever been attracted to girls, or at least that’s what I thought, how did you know you liked guys, was it just like you knew, or did you go through this whole phase where you…”

“Lance!” Shiro interrupted. “Calm down and let me tell you something.” He took a deep breath, “I denied myself for a long time, I didn’t want to admit it because my parents weren’t so accepting of the culture… but gay isn’t the only sexuality, there’s pan, trans, ace, and tons more.”

“Where would I fall then, cuz like I still like girls, but like Keith is, I don’t know… different, does that make sense?”

“It does, and I think you would fall under the category of bi.”

“Bi?”

“You know like bisexual, you like both guys and girls, the guy in this scenario being Keith.”

“B-bisexual, wait, that’s a thing?” He shot up off the bed. “I… have a thing for Keith, no that can’t be, besides, he wouldn’t like me back, especially not after what I just did.” He was pacing the room rubbing his head.

“I think you should go talk to him and see for yourself, he did agree to stay on earth for you.”

“Holy Quiznak, you’re right.” He sat back down on the bed and looked over at Shiro’s hologram. “Thank’s Shiro, sorry I bugged you.”

“Don’t be sorry, Lance, I should have called you back before, I hope you two can talk it out.”

“Me too, Thanks again, later.”

“Bye.”

The call was disconnected and Shiro disappeared, leaving the room silent. Lance sat there for a minute processing everything he and Shiro just talked about. Now he just had to figure out a way to talk to Keith about it.

The next day~

Keith laid in his bed, the heat from his shower the night before never having gone away. It felt like his whole body was on fire and his vision wasn’t getting much better. He needed some air, that’s all, he’s just been couped up in this house for too long.

He managed to pull himself out of bed and stumbled his way down the hall where he found Lance sitting on the couch.

“Oh, hey, you’re awake,” he smiled.

“Yeah, just gonna head out to the deck and get some air.” He wasn’t about to tell Lance how he felt, he would make a big deal of it, so he was going to pretend he was fine for the time being.

“Would you like some company, I made coffee if you want some.”

“No coffee, but company sounds great.”

He headed out the door while Lance ran off to grab himself a cup of coffee. It was a nice sunny day, the breeze blowing through the trees, the smell of the juneberries filling the warm summer air. His head was finally starting to clear.

Lance finally joined him, the smell of coffee now mixing into the air.

“Hey, so about last night, I-“

“Don’t apologize, matter of fact, let’s just not talk about it ever again.” The last thing he wanted right now was more questions about his… but why was he snapping at Lance, now he felt like he wanted to apologize.

A weird silence filled the air, neither of them really knowing what to say, the rustling of the leaves the only thing between them and nothing.

Keith stared out across the vast fields of pink flowers. “Is it okay if I started helping you out around here, I mean you are letting me stay in your house rent free after all.”

“I would hate to make you work though, what about your leg?”

“My leg is fine, I’m sure there’s at least something I could do.”

“Alright, alright, if you really want to work that badly I think I could find you something to do.”

The silence returned. Why was today so awkward? His stomach grumbled and he heard a snicker come from Lance. “I think someone might be a little hungry.”

He was actually starving, now that his sickness had subsided. “What are you going to make me?” He smirked.  
later that night~

Keith’s stomach was not agreeing with him for the second time today. He had spent most of his day sleeping in his room, he was hoping it was just a cold. But just to be safe he pulled out his phone and dialed the lab's number.

The face that popped up, however, was not Pidge, but Matt. “Oh, hey Keith, how ya doin?”

“Actually, that’s what I was calling about, I’ve had this fever since last night and today my stomach hasn’t been agreeing with me.”

“Hmm, could just be a cold, but better safe then sorry you should come by the Garrison tomorrow and see me, I can at least do a basic check, maybe give you some medication, you never know what you can pick up in space.”

“Sounds good, anytime in particular?”

“No, I’m free all day tomorrow, Pidge left to go take care of something and mom and dad are super busy with their stuff, I was just planning on working on my robot.”

“Alright, thanks I’ll see you tomorrow then, bye.”

He hung up the phone and dropped it back on the bed next to him. He was just about to close his eyes when there was a knock at the door.

“Keith, come out here, Kosmo and I have a surprise for you.”

What the hell kind of surprise did they put together? He managed to get out of bed and walked over to the door. Upon opening it he was greeted with a slobbery kiss from a tongue almost bigger than his face.

“Ah, Kosmo, what the quiznak,’ He said wiping the slobber from his face.

“Sorry, that was not the surprise, I swear it’s much nicer than that,” Lance said pushing the giant space wolf off of him.

“Why did you make me get out of bed, it was so safe and warm there.”

“Just follow me will ya.”

He groaned but followed the Cuban boy out into the living room. His eyes grew wide when he saw that all of the blankets and pillows had been arranged into a giant fort.

“Holy quiznak, when did you do this?”

Lance smirked, “While you were taking your nap back there, Kosmo and I have been hard at work, I hope you like watching movies inside a blanket fort.”

The fort looked even bigger from inside, they had even moved a tv in there. Pillows and blankets lined the floor making it soft and cushy.

“Make yourself at home, the in fort movie will be starting as soon as the popcorns ready.” His little giggle set Keith’s heart on fire only causing his fever to spike, his face growing redder than it already had been.

He got comfortable and waited for Lance to come back and join him. He laid back looking up at the string lights wrapped around the various chairs and pillows he had used to hold the blankets in place. It illuminated the fort in a soft purple glow.

Finally, Lance came back with the popcorn and an arm full of old DVD’s. “Good thing I have this old console that plays these, otherwise we would be out of a movie night.”

“How do you even have these?”

“Well, my abuelita saved them and we used to watch them together when I was little, so I’ve always kind of kept them close, good thing the Garrison didn’t blow up or they never would have made it this long.” His smile faded slightly as he looked down at the movies in his hands.

“You okay?” Keith asked in a worried tone.

Lance’s expression quickly changed back to a smile, but it wasn’t the same smile he was used to, this one seemed almost fake. “I’m fine, now which movie do you want to watch first, I have Spider-Man into the spider-verse, the kid who would be king…” Lance continued on with naming the movies in his collection, and Keith couldn’t stop staring. “Hey, are you even listening to me?”

Keith shook his head, embarrassed for being caught, and looked away. “W-We can watch whatever you want to watch, I don’t know movies very well anyway.”

“Well, now we really have to watch all of these.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes, tonight.”

He popped one of the discs into the slot and the movie began. Keith spent most of the movie asking who the characters were and Lance just kept telling him to watch and he would figure it out. 

He laid back with his arms crossed. He had lost the plot of the movie a while ago and wasn’t all that interested in trying to figure it out. He could feel his head starting to swim, so he closed his eyes and started to take in deep breaths.

He felt a hand on his forehead, then Lance’s voice came through. “You doing okay?”

“I-I’m fine, just a little… dizzy.” He slipped in and out of consciousness, his head pounding. “I think I just need to take something for this headache.”

“Alright, you stay here and I’ll go get you something.” The hand disappeared, leaving behind a warmth that slowly faded.

He didn’t want it to go though, he reached out for it, but it was already too far gone. His head laid back against the pillow and he closed his eyes, he wanted to sleep, just for a few minutes, then he would be alright.

When Lance came back he had a glass of water and a couple small red pills. He handed them over to him and he popped them in his mouth and chugged the glass of water. Hopefully, this would help him with this raging headache and the aching feeling in his body.

They continued their movie night but Keith was more or less ready to pass out. He kept nodding in and out during the second or third movie, it was all starting to meld together at this point, and he couldn’t keep his eyes open.

He heard Lance shift next to him and a quiet hum came through, Keith now realizing the movie had been shut off. ‘Such a soft hum, but it’s beautiful, I don’t ever want it to stop’ he felt a familiar sensation of fingers wrapping and twisting through his hair. Why was this always so calming, why did Lance feel the need to do it? Whatever it was Keith loved it and soon found himself slipping into dreamland.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith meets up with Matt and they find something interesting.

When Keith awoke the next morning, he found himself cuddle up next to Lance, his head resting on Lance’s right shoulder, Kosmo curled up behind him. He quickly sat up, brushing the hair from his forehead. ‘Oh no, your gay is showing Kogane, just get up and walk away, maybe he didn’t notice you cuddle into him, maybe you can still get away with a bit of dignity.’

“Keith?”

‘Crap!’ He looked down at the sleepy-eyed boy propped up on the pillow-laden floor. “H-Hey, I was just going to start the coffee, d-do you want some?”

“Oh man, that sounds soooo good right now,” He said rubbing his eyes.

Keith got up and headed to the kitchen. He wasn’t actually planning on making coffee, he just needed a reason to escape the fort… and Lance. He took in a few deep breaths while he filled the pot in the sink.

Why was Lance always letting him fall asleep with him, not that it didn’t feel good to finally get some sleep (and to be sleeping with Lance), it was just weird that he was sleeping in the same bed as him. And what’s with the hair, he always knew Lance was obsessed with his hair, but he had never actually touched it and now he was playing with it.

His hand shook as he pushed the buttons on the coffee maker. He needed to calm down, needed to steady his racing heart, to wipe the sweat from his brows and take a deep breath. Lance didn’t mention anything so he probably didn’t even notice it.  
Speaking of Lance, he walked into the kitchen and sat at the island. “Hey, so how are you feeling this morning?”

“Oh, umm, good, I think it was just a migraine, no need to worry.” ‘This conversation is going well, just keep it that way.’

“You don’t have to start helping today, you can start tomorrow if you need some time.”

“No it’s fine, umm, the only thing I have to do is go to the Garrison later.”

“For what?” He asked cocking his head to the side.

He had to quickly think of an excuse. “I… uh, Matt wanted me to come down to the lab for something.”

“And, uh, what could that be?”

“I don’t know, he just called me yesterday and told me to swing by sometime today.”

“Oh, okay, well I could drop you o-“

“No, it’s alright, I can get there on my own.” He couldn’t have Lance follow him, he would find out something for sure. “So, what kind of work did you need me to do today?”

“Okay… I guess for today I really need someone to milk Kaltenecker and the other cows, Rachel wasn’t feeling the best yesterday so I told her she could have the day off.”

“Wait, Kaltenecker is still here?”

Lance snorted, “Well, of course she is, I would never get rid of her.”

“I won’t let her down, I’ll do my best,” He said determinedly tightening his fist in front of him.

“I’m sure you will,” Lance giggled.

By the time they finished their coffee and breakfast Lance’s family had shown up. Keith followed him out to the stables, Kosmo following close behind, as they walked through the large red doors. Keith gave Kaltenecker a few pats and asked her how she was doing, while Kosmo licked her face, Lance laughing in the background.

“Alright, do you know how to… you know?”

“Yeah, I know how to milk a cow, I’ve actually lived on a farm before.”

“What, you lived on a farm?”

Keith chuckled nervously, “Yeah, it wasn’t for long, it was one of the foster homes I went to, but they made all of us work.”

“What do you mean by all of us, how many kids were there?”

Keith had to think for a moment, it had been a long time since he’d been on that farm. “Umm, I think there was ten of us from foster care that worked, and two that were their actual kids, they were kind of… you know what, it doesn’t matter, either way, I think I got this and I’ll see you later?” He sat down on the little stool next to Kaltenecker and grabbed the bucket behind him.

“Oh, okay, see you later then.” A very confused Lance left the stables and disappeared into the fields.

Keith huffed in disappointment, angry with himself for not only sharing something like that but then pushing Lance away for like the millionth time. ‘What is wrong with me?’  


Later that day~

Keith headed back to the house for a quick shower before he headed out to meet up with Matt. It felt good to finally get in some work, it might not be the nicest work, but at least it got him out of the house.

Lance let him borrow his car so he didn’t have to walk, which was nice, because it started to rain on his way to it. The pitter patter of the first few drops hitting the hood of his sweatshirt as he climbed into the driver's seat.

His drive was quick, not much traffic on the roads tonight. It was starting to get dark, the streetlights flickering on, shimmering off the wet road and the now downpouring rain.  


When he pulled up to the Garrison it was like a hurricane, the wind gusting unnaturally fast, so he threw up his hood and hoped he could run fast enough to keep himself somewhat dry.

When he ran through the sliding glass door he ran straight into James. He grabbed him just before he toppled back, causing them to be in this sort of awkward hug and Keith was not having it.

“What the hell, Keith?” James yelled as Keith dropped him to the ground.

“Sorry, I was just trying to get out of the rain, it’s pretty bad tonight, I didn’t mean to run into you that was a total accident.”

“Whatever, what are you doing here anyway?”

“I’m here to talk to Matt, what are you doing here, I thought you were with Pidge, on some secret mission?”

A breath of air through gritted teeth, “Shut up... I was benched for this mission.”

Keith had to hold back a laugh, he couldn’t help it. “What did you do to her to get benched?”

“It doesn’t concern you, j-just go see Matt already.” He walked off angrily mumbling things to himself as he went.

Back on the task at hand, he was here to talk to Matt, although, he felt just fine today, so it was kind of a waste of time. Yet on he trudged.

He found Matt in his lab working on a robot. “Hey Matt, what’s up?”

“Oh good, you’re here, I need you to hold this on the capacitor while I screw in the maniscotal byoptic.”

He was just going to pretend he understood what he just said, grabbing the screwdriver in the place he told him to. A couple turns and he was sitting back with a sigh of relief.

“You showed up just in time, now, let’s get that med check started.” He smiled and stood up.

“I’m actually feeling good today, I think it was just a twenty-four-hour thing, we probably don’t even need to do a check.” He felt bad wasting everybody’s time coming here.

“Doesn’t hurt to run one, you’ve been gone for a long time, who knows what you picked up out there.”

“True.”

Keith followed him to the med bay, past all of the healing pods, and down a little hallway, until they reached a room towards the end. He followed Matt into the room and sat down on the stretcher as advised.

“First, we should probably take some blood samples, then we will do an exam, and hopefully we can figure out why you felt the way you did yesterday.”

He pulled out a needle, a sterile wipe, and some gauze, placing them on the table next to Keith. He stretched out his arm and placed it in Matt’s waiting hand. The sterile wipe was cold against his skin as it wiped across the skin on the inside of his elbow. The prick of the needle should be nothing to him, but it still stung.

Matt took a couple vials of blood and pulled the needle out, properly bandaging it. He put them inside one of those things that you see at the drive-thru windows at the bank and sent it through a tube to who knows where.

“Alright, time for an exam, please take off your clothes and put on this gown, you can leave your underwear on, I think that would be best for both of us.”

“Why do I need to take my clothes off?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, hospital procedure?”

“Ugh, alright fine, b-but you need to wait outside.”

“Already on it, no need to tell me twice.” He was already half out the door at this point.

Keith undressed, grumbling to himself the whole time about how stupid it was, and pulled on the gown. It didn’t close in the back because he couldn’t get it tied, so he just kind of held it closed for now.

He called Matt back in and sat back down on the stretcher. “Let’s get this over with, please.”

Matt started out with the basic check-up, checking his heartbeat, listening to his breaths, checking his eyes and ears. He moved along with everything, working his way down until it was time to check out his legs. Upon inspection of the back of his right leg, he let out a sudden gasp.

“Have you looked at the back of your leg recently?” He questioned.

“No, not recently, why?” He also let out a sharp gasp when he finally looked down to see a couple of dark purple lines streaked across the back of his leg. “Holy what the quiznak is that?”

“Ha, funny, I was going to ask you the same thing.” Keith was not amused by his humor. “Hmm, maybe I should take some samples and have them tested.”

When Matt touched the back of his leg though, it sent a surge of pain through his body. “Ah, what the…”

“Did that hurt?”

“Yes it hurt, what kind of dumb question is that?” Keith snapped.

“Interesting, does it hurt at all right now?”

“No, only when you touch it.”

“Hmm, let's get those samples and we will find out from there.”

Keith was less than happy when Matt stuck the needle in his leg, it didn’t help that he had to practically stab him because the skin was so resistant there. When he finally got it in he popped the first of the vials on. They both gasped quite loudly when a strange purple liquid oozed into the vial.

“What the hell is that, why is it purple?” Keith questioned.

“I-I don’t know, but whatever this is, it’s not natural.”

This was getting weird and Keith’s fever was starting to come back. His head started to swim and his body was trembling, he did everything he could to hold himself up on that stretcher. Seeing the purple liquid wasn’t helping, only making his stomach queasy.

“Hey, are you feeling okay…” Matt’s voice seemed to get quieter, eventually disappearing into the white noise taking over Keith’s hearing. His vision blurred as he lost consciousness.

Keith woke up to Matt shaking him, asking him if he was okay. “Dude, are you alright, you just passed out.”

“I… I don’t know, m-my whole body feels like it’s on fire,” Keith managed to get out. Matt pulled open one of his eyelids and shined a flashlight in his eye, but Keith pulled away and tried to sit back up. “I’ll be alright, I think I just need some sleep, it’s fine.”

“How can you say that you just passed out, and your leg has weird purple ooze coming out of it, this is not fine.” He had a point, this really wasn’t fine, something was seriously wrong, but Keith was not ready to deal with it, he just wanted to go back to Lance’s and lay down in his bed. He wanted to pretend that nothing was wrong, that he was fine.

“Just let me know when you get the test results back, I’ll see you later.” He managed to balance himself enough to gather his clothes, not caring that Matt was there when he started pulling his sweats on, letting the gown fall off of him so he could get his shirt over his head.

He began to walk towards the door, but Matt’s hand rested on his shoulder, “Are you sure you want to leave right now, we could set you up a room here for the night and-”

“No, I definitely do not want to stay here, too many people I care not to speak with.” He said brushing the hand from his shoulder. “I’ll be fine, I’m just gonna go home and sleep.”

He sighed, knowing he was defeated, “Fine, just make sure you’re careful on your drive back, I don’t need to wake up to a call that you never made it.”

Keith chuckled, which made his vision go black for a second, ‘pull yourself together, you just have to make it back to Lance’s’, “I’ll drive safe, don’t worry about me.”

“Well, ever since you almost sacrificed yourself, I worry a little bit, you need to take better care of yourself.” He had that look of worry, that look of ‘I don’t want to see you hurt yourself again’.

Damn, he forgot Matt knew about that, he hadn’t even told Shiro about that, but Matt was there, he even tried to tell him to stop. “I promise you I’ll be okay, just give me a call when you get the results, alright?”

“Yeah, drive safe.” His voice was soft, it came through just loud enough for him to hear.

Keith nodded and walked out of the room. He immediately had to grab the wall, because honestly, he was faking being okay the whole time just so Matt would let him leave. He didn’t want to lie, but he definitely did not want to stay here.

He probably shouldn’t have been climbing into the driver’s seat, but there was no way he was calling someone to come pick him up, that would be admitting defeat to his own body. The car roared to a start, he took in a few deep breaths trying to clear his head and started on his journey back to Lance’s.

Fuck it was hard to see, it didn’t help that he could barely keep his eyes open trying to fight back this headache. The rain had stopped but the roads were slick, the tires spun out when pulling out from the stoplight. The light reflecting from the street lights flashing in his eyes blinding him momentarily.

Suddenly, when he could see without glare, a figure emerged in the road. Long flowing white hair, deep nut-brown skin, that blue, gold-trimmed dress. He slammed on the breaks, skidding to a halt, tires smoking.

He blinked a couple of times, trying hard to wake up from this dream he felt he was having. She was there and she was turning to look at him, but the eyes he was met with were black and lifeless, not the usual galaxy blue he was used to. Her hand raised, her fingers curling, all except her pointer finger, and she stopped just as her finger landed on him.

He took his eyes off her for two seconds, just long enough to pop the door open and yell, “ALLURA!” But when he looked up she was gone.

He looked around for a minute before climbing back into the car. He sat there for a bit with his hands gripping the steering wheel, processing what he just saw. Did he really just see her, was he going crazy, could he have just hallucinated for a moment? He had no clue, but he needed to sleep before he started seeing more ghosts.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finally remembers he took the recorder from Pidge and Keith is having some issues with his leg.
> 
> Also, HUNK!

Lance sat in his room, alone, because Keith had gone to bed almost immediately after returning from talking to Matt. He hoped Pidge hadn’t told him about finding the ship, about the strange recording they found. Wait, speaking of that… he leaned over and pulled the recorder from the drawer.

The screen gave him the chance to choose recordings to listen to, it was kind of weird that there were so many, there seemed to be one for every day he was gone. Did he really record his days as Lance had asked? He was only joking when he told him to do that.

Keith’s voice rang through the room. “Daily log number 403, today we are heading to the water planet to drop off supplies, I wish I could get you to come out here, this planet is beautiful, especially when you look at it from the sun side, the water is so blue and it shimmers, reminds me of your eyes.”

“Hmm, I wonder who he’s talking about, it’s probably Axca, they seem like a thing, I think.” He clicked on another one of the recordings and pressed play.

“Daily log number 531, I am stuck with a pack of lesbians, including your sister, I wish I had you out here, all these hormones are going to turn me into a woman.”  


Lance snorted at that one, who knew Keith could be funny? He scrolled through the recordings randomly stopping and clicking on another one.

“Keith’s log number 25, okay, so I haven’t been doing this for long, but it’s kind of helping me with my depression, so here goes…” There was a long pause then, “Lance, I love you, I love everything about you, I love your stupid smile, and your dumb pickup lines and the way you used to joke about my mullet, I miss it all. I still don’t know how you managed to forget our bonding moment, I cradled you in my ar... nope, I told myself I wouldn’t talk about that.”

His face was officially red. Did Keith just say he loved him, had he been talking about him this whole time? The shimmering blue eyes he was talking about, the sister he had referred to, it was all about him. Keith had never stopped talking to him, no matter how long he was gone.

“I will never have the heart to tell you, especially since you’ve never loved me, it was always Allura.” He detected a hint of a sniffle, was he crying? No, don’t cry, I don’t ever want to hear you cry again. “I hope that someday, far in the future, that I could make you happier than Allura ever could because you deserve to be loved and… ugh, why am I talking to this dumb thing, it’s not like I’m ever going to let anyone listen to this…” and it cut out.

He laid there in the silence for a few minutes, wrapping his head around what he had just listened to. At least he knew Keith loved him back and… did he say his sister is a lesbian?

The vibration carried through the bed as his com started to ring. He did a half stretch back to grab it off his pillow and looked at the screen. Pidge’s face popped up and he had to laugh, he had caught her a while back mid-sneeze and set it as her contact pic. She still yells at him to change it.

When her actual face popped up though, it was a smile he was greeted with. “Hey, Lance… you still haven’t changed it, have you?” She asked as he tried to hold back his laugh. “Anyway, we found the ship.”

“What, really, that’s awesome.” His expression changed quickly to interest.

“Yeah, it wasn’t easy, do you remember the weapon, the one Keith and Krolia set free and then it attacked us and we thought we blew it up?”

“Yes, I seem to recall, that thing almost ate Keith, and then we blew it to kingdom come.”

“Well, it didn’t die, that was what attacked Keith, I’m glad I brought as many people as I did, it took all of us to subdue it, it wasn’t attacking us, but it certainly wasn’t coming with us quietly.” She pointed the camera to the unconscious beast behind her, getting chained up. “We’re bringing it back to earth so I can do some testing on it.”

“That sounds like a horrible idea, haven’t you seen all the horror movies, don’t bring it here.”

“It only attacks Galra, it might be safer to keep it on earth than let it be in space.”

“Hnnng, okay, fine, but what are we going to tell Keith?”

“Nothing, not yet anyway, he seems to be doing fine right now, no need to rile him up.”

Why must he continue to lie to him, he doesn’t want to lie anymore. “Yeah, okay,” He sighed.

“I’ve gotta go, but I’ll be back to earth in a couple of quintents, you should come to the lab when I get back.”

“Yeah, sounds good, see you then.” He ended the call and tossed his com on the bed. “Yeah, cuz I really want to come and see the thing that tried to kill us.”

The next morning~

Keith woke up to the sound of the vacuum running in the living room. How was Lance up so early, and already doing housework? He rolled himself out of bed and pulled on his pair of red sweats before walking out to the living room.

He was surprised to see Hunk vacuuming, it definitely wasn’t the person he was expecting, but he was still glad to see him. “Woah, Hunk, what are you doing here?”

“KEITH!” He yelled, shutting the vacuum off and running over to give him one of his famous bear hugs. “I was hoping you would still be here, I was busy with intergalactic meetings when Pidge called me and told me what happened, but I had a free week and hoped I could still catch you before you left earth again.”

“Yeah, I’m glad to see you too buddy.” It was hard to breathe, but man did he miss Hunk’s hugs, he threw his arms around him and hugged him back.

“So, how’s living with Lance?” He asked, finally letting go.

“It’s good, I get free meals and a bed to sleep in, so…”

Hunk let out a deep chuckle. “Yeah, beds are always nice.”

A voice came from behind them, “I heard vacuuming, that must mean that… HUUUUNK!” Lance ran from the back room and pounced on him. “It’s been too long ya big marshmallow, you never come to visit anymore.”

“I know, I’m sorry buddy, I promise I’ll make more time for you.”

“That’s what everyone says.”

“So, why are you vacuuming anyway?” Keith asked as Lance climb off Hunk.

“Well, Lance never does it, so someone has to,” He shrugged.

“I have a lot of other things to do, I run a farm, that’s a lot of work.”

“Okay, but…” Hunk stomped on the carpet and a cloud of dust puffed out from it.

“So, it’s been a while, shoot me for not vacuuming every week like you and Shay.”

“It doesn’t have to be every week, but you could at least do it once a month.”

Keith started laughing as he watched them argue over vacuuming, it was almost like they were back on the castle ship.

Hunk offered to cook for them, he even brought his own ingredients, which was both amazing and scary at the same time. They all sat down in the kitchen while he began to prepare. Lance had offered to help, but he politely declined.

“Oh, what did Matt want to see you for?” Lance asked, swiveling to face Keith.

“He, umm, it was…” Well, that caught him off guard. He didn’t really want to talk about it yet since he didn’t even really know what it was. “He just needed some help with a project, he probably should have just asked Griffin, since he wasn’t with Pidge.”

“Okay, okay,” he nodded. “So… did he like, say where Pidge went or anything?”

“No, apparently no one knows where she was off to aside from those she went with.”

“Cool, cool, wait, why isn’t Griffin with them?”

A smile grew on Keith’s face. “He got benched and I can’t wait to find out why.”

“That’s amazing,” Lance giggled.

Hunk cut in, setting the food down in front of them, “Alright, enough being excited over someone else’s misfortune, it’s time to eat.”

Neither of them would ever understand how Hunk could take all these weird ingredients and make them taste amazing, but he had a natural talent for it. They ate their breakfast, chatting about all of Hunk’s culinary adventures and the weird ways he has to get some of his ingredients.

Luckily, Lance didn’t have a lot of work to do for the day, so he was done before noon, which meant they were able to hang out for the rest of the day.

Keith excused himself from their conversation and headed to the bathroom. His leg had been bothering him since Matt poked it the night before. When he got to the bathroom, he locked the door and pulled up his pant leg. The purple lines had multiplied, spreading further, now up past his knee.

“Dammit, what even is this?” He grumbled.

He pulled his pant leg back down and threw some water in his face before heading back out to the living room.

Meanwhile in the living room~

Lance watched as Keith headed off to the bathroom, waiting until he knew he was out of earshot, then turning back to Hunk. “Hunk, buddy, best friend of mine.”

“Oh man, when you say that it’s usually something serious.”

“I heard something I don’t think I should have last night.”

“Okay, what did you hear?” He leaned in, intrigued by these words.

Lance cleared his throat, “I heard Keith say that he loves me.” He said it quickly, then closed his eyes to wait for the response.

“Well, I mean, he was pining over you the entire time we were fighting the Galra, it’s not that surprising.”

“What, he was not, we were rivals, remember?”

He chuckled, “Sure buddy, you were rivals, and I’m the king of New Altea.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me, I would have liked to have known that.” He sat back with a pout forming across his lips.

“Sorry, that’s something you needed to figure out on your own, besides, what would you say to him?”

“That I loved him too.”

Hunk was silent for a moment before finally saying, “Then why don’t you tell him yourself, why does he have to be the first to say it, you already know how he feels.”

“That’s what I need your help with, I want it to be special, I need you to help me make it special.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

Before he could explain anything Keith was back, so he shot Hunk a look of ‘keep your mouth shut’ and looked back to Keith. “Hey, you doing okay?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that, I’m fine!” He snarled before storming off to his room.

Lance and Hunk looked at each other confused. “What did you do?” Hunk asked.

“Nothing, I just… he’s been sick the last couple days, I just wanted to make sure he was okay… ugggh!”

“Just give him some time, maybe he’s just stressed out.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” He leaned back against the couch with a sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got my depressed ass to write another chapter, sorry for taking so long y'all


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW!!!

Hunk had gone to bed, leaving Lance alone on the couch, sitting in the darkness, listening to the ceiling fan whir above him. Maybe it would be a good idea to go check on Keith now, he’s had to have had enough time to calm down by now.

He peeled himself off the couch and stumbled down the hallway. He probably should have turned on a light or something. He got to the end of the hallway and finally remembered he could have just used the light on his com. He flipped it on and found himself outside Keith’s door.

He paused as he reached for the door handle, the last time he walked in he saw way more than he wanted to, he should probably knock this time.

A couple of light taps to the door and he stuck his ear to the door to listen for a response. After he didn’t get one, he knocked again, this time asking, “Keith, can I come in, I want to apologize for earlier.”

It was quiet and muffled, but he could just make out, “You can come in.”

He slowly turned the handle and walked in. It was dark and hard to see, but luckily he had his com for light. “I wanted to say sorry, for being too nosey earlier…”

“It’s fine, I shouldn’t have blown up like that.”

Awesome, Keith wasn’t mad at him, now he should leave before he says the wrong thing and ruins it. “I’m gonna go, sleep well.” 

He was just about to turn around when he heard a soft, “Please don’t go.” It was so cute he couldn’t say no.

“Alright, do you want to talk or…”

“No, just lay here with me, no talking, just sleeping.”

Okay, just sleeping, Lance could do that, it wasn’t anything new from what they had already been doing. He climbed under the covers and laid on his back, staring up at the glowing sea of stars on the ceiling.

Keith’s body shifted next to him, it was clumsy, but he was now facing Lance and somehow it got awkward. It had never been awkward before, why now?

He dared to take a peek, slowly turning his head to look over at him. Big mistake, he was staring right at him, with those big eyes, almost glowing in the dark. He quickly turned away, it was way too awkward now.

“I think I’m just gonna…” A finger to his lips stopped him dead in the middle of the sentence.

“No talking.”

He felt the shift of the bed, felt a leg swing over his waist and straddle his hips. He was too confused to stop what happened next, a pair of lips colliding with his. So soft, so warm, he never wanted it to stop. Wait, this was bad, right? Why would it be bad though, maybe this was Keith telling him he liked him, if he stopped now, he might upset him.

Keith pulled away from his lips and continued down his chin, along his jawline, and down to his neck where he bit down, just hard enough to make Lance gasp, accompanied by a moan.

Damn, why did Keith’s lips have to feel so good pressed against his skin, the little kisses trailing along his collar bone, then back up to his mouth. This time, Lance was ready for it, pulling Keith into him so their chests were pressed together.

They were full on making out, things were starting to get hot and heavy and that’s when Keith stuck his hand down Lance’s pants.

“W-Woah, what…” He sat up trying to pull away.

“No talking.” ‘Is that all he was going to say, he’s got his damn hands down my pants.’

The hand traveled down, his fingers running along the inside of his thigh, caressing his hip bone that stuck out a bit, finally brushing against his cock. He let out a moan, a little louder than he had intended, but god it was hard to hold back right now.

Those long, beautiful, strong fingers wrapped around his cock and he melted into the bed. How long had it been since he’d felt someone else touch other than his own? Too long, that’s how long.

“Fu… Keith.” He breathed, as the hand began to move up and down. This boy was doing work and god did it feel amazing.

Planting one last kiss on Lance’s lips, Keith disappeared under the covers. Lance let out a guttural moan when he felt a tongue take a long lazy stroll along the length of his cock.

God he wanted more, no, he needed more. He wanted those plump lips wrapped around his cock. Imagined those eyes staring up at him as he sunk down, hollowing out his cheeks on the way back up.

Another lazy lick and then it happened. Those lips were finally wrapped around him, the blanket dipping as he sunk down, then back up pulling off with a pop.

Shit, this was intense, a lot more intense than Lance was expecting it to be. He was trying to hold it back, he didn’t want to cum right off the bat, but it was like Keith was sucking on a lollipop. The way he swirled his tongue around the tip every time he came up for air, the way he dove back down with ferocity, the way Lance’s cock hit the back of his throat, making him gag every once in a while.

He was getting so close, he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to hold it back much longer, but Keith suddenly pulled away. “Nooooo,” Lance whined as the sensation slowly dissipated.

Keith’s head popped back out from under the blankets and something didn’t seem right, he looked like he was dazed, like he wasn’t fully there.

“Are you…” ‘Don’t ask him that, remember what happened earlier, the last thing you want is to piss him off right now.’ 

“I want you to fuck me.” His whole demeanor changed. He went from dazed and confused, to hungry and hot-blooded.

Lance choked on his own spit. “W-What?”

“Don’t act like you don’t want to, I know you do.” He felt the tug at his sweatpants and instinctively lifted his hips to help Keith pull them down. “Please fuck me?”

Those eyes, those big beautiful eyes were staring into his soul, but something seemed off with them, they weren’t glowing anymore, in fact, they didn’t even seem to be the same color as when they started. Was it just the heat of the moment, did all galra eyes do this?

“Are y-you sure?”

“Yes, just do it already.”

“Don’t I need to like... prep you or something?” Lance had never been with a guy before, but he certainly wasn’t dumb.

Keith planted a long, hot, tongue swirling kiss on his lips, then pulled back and smiled. “I already did that.”

Fuck this was hot, this boy had been fingering himself this whole time, how did Lance get so lucky tonight.

“I’ll just grab a condom and-”

Before he could finish, Keith had grabbed his cock and positioned it so it was pressing against his entrance. What happened to the real Keith and where did this clone come from?

“Wait, Kei- AAAHHH.” It was too late as Keith slowly slid down the length of his cock until he was bottomed out. The feeling of being completely buried in Keith’s ass was almost enough to send him over the edge right then and there, but he had to hold off, he couldn’t be that guy.

None of this was normal, why did it feel so good and so wrong at the same time? It didn’t matter, it was happening and there was nothing Lance could or would do about it.

Keith lifted himself slowly before dropping back down with a bit more force this time, causing him to moan loudly.

“Shh, we don’t want to wake up Hunk,” Lance whispered while placing his hands over the boy's mouth.

Keith pulled it away and with a devilish smile and whispered back, “Let him hear, I don’t mind.” Lance was surprised his face hadn’t burnt a hole in the pillow, he was really not used to Keith acting this way, but it was hot and he liked it.

He set a pace, slow and steady to get used to it, it was driving Lance crazy. He wanted to say something, but for the sake of not pissing Keith off, he decided against pushing it, for now anyway.

Keith pushed his hair back as he leaned back on his other hand, how had Lance forgotten how cute his forehead was, the last and only time he saw it was on Bob’s show and he had a pacifier in his mouth, but this boy was gorgeous from his head to his toes, every inch of him was perfect.

“Keeeith,” The name came through breathy as Lance pulled himself up, wrapping his arms around Keith’s waist, it was smaller than he had expected. He picked him up and without warning, he threw him onto his back. He hooked both arms under each leg and gave Keith his own devilish smile before grinding into him, setting his own, faster pace.

“Ahh, Lance… y-yes.” Lance also hadn’t expected Keith to be the vocal one, he seemed more like the quiet type, seemed he was learning quite a bit about him tonight.

He was getting close, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold back. He grabbed Keith’s cock, pumping it to the pace of his thrusts. “Oh fuck… L-Lance, I’m gonna-” He felt the cum drip down his hand as he continued through his waves. Lance wasn’t far behind, hips stuttering as he let out a deep moan.

When he was finally spent and the exhaustion set in, he collapsed down onto the bed next to him. And the awkward set in. What was he supposed to say now? But just as he was about to turn and say something he would probably regret, he was met with those glowing eyes again, they had changed back again, but they weren’t looking at him with a look he was hoping for. No, they were looking at him with fear and anger.

Keith’s hands shot up over his face. “What the hell just happened, what are you… did we just… you need to go.” 

_‘Go? We literally just had sex and he wants me to go?’_ “Wait, Keith, what are you saying, we can talk about this, just-”

“NO!” He yelled, slapping away Lance’s hands as they grabbed at his own. “I don’t know what came over me, but I’m sorry, please just go.”

“Keith I-”

“I SAID GO!” Did his eyes just flash yellow?

Keith pushed him out of the bed and he was forced to grab his things before being pushed out into the hallway, where the door was slammed in his face as he protested to let him back in.

_‘Well shit, that couldn’t have gone any worse,’_ Lance thought as he scrambled back to his room before Hunk popped out to see what the door slamming was all about.

He slunk into bed trying to wrap his head around what had just happened. They had sex, Keith sucked his cock, and then he just kicked him out like it was nothing.

He grabbed a pillow and shoved it into his face, screaming as loud as he could, hoping at least some of it was muffled. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get the images out of his head. He could still feel Keith’s hands gripping his sides, the feeling of his soft lips on his, the heat of their bodies pressed together. He didn’t want to think it, but it was probably the last time he would ever feel those things again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEETHAW!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after is never easy, especially when you have been hiding this weird sickness from everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this is kind of a short chapter.

The Next Morning~

Lance sat in the kitchen barely touching the food Hunk had placed in front of him almost fifteen minutes prior. Keith hadn’t come out of his room yet and Lance was still confused as to what had happened the night before. _‘Is Keith mad at me, I mean he was the one that started it, but maybe it was like a test and I failed.’ ___

__“UUUGGHHH,” He groaned, causing Hunk to jump next to him._ _

__“Woah, buddy, what’s wrong?”_ _

__“I… uh, I’m sorry, just having a rough morning.” It was hard not to tell his best friend things, he always shared everything with him, but there was no way he was going to tell him he had sex with Keith last night._ _

__“Oookay, anyway, are you going to eat or…” He looked down at the plate sitting in front of Lance._ _

__“Yeah, sorry.” He slowly stabbed a piece of egg and brought it up to his mouth._ _

__It was quiet for a bit, the only sounds coming from their forks scraping against their plates. Lance kept looking over his shoulder at the entryway hoping to see Keith walking through it, but he never came._ _

__“I wonder if Keith’s okay, I thought I heard weird noises last night coming from his room,” Hunk said, breaking the silence._ _

__Lance nearly spit out his milk. “Wh-what noises, I didn’t hear any noises.” _‘Play it off Lance, don’t out yourself.’ _____

____“I don’t know, it was probably just me dreaming or something.”_ _ _ _

____They heard Keith’s door open, followed by very quick footsteps and then the bathroom door slamming shut. Lance got up to investigate._ _ _ _

____Meanwhile~_ _ _ _

____The carpet was the first thing Keith saw when he opened his eyes, it tickled his cheek as he moved. His head was pounding and he couldn’t really remember why he was passed out on the floor. He pushed himself up and felt around for his phone on the nightstand._ _ _ _

_____‘What the hell happened last night?’ _He thought to himself. _‘I remember laying down in bed, how the hell did I get on the floor?’ ______ _ _ _

________He was sick to his stomach, maybe he should call Matt again, see if he’s figured anything out. He pulled on a pair of boxers, but before he had the chance, he was running to the bathroom to throw up._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Head hung over the bowl, he started to hear footsteps outside the door. _‘Oh no, please don’t come in here, please just go away.’ _____ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Keith, are you okay,” Said the tiny voice on the other side of the door._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Fine, just leave me…” He couldn’t finish as more of the stomach acid came up and out._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Do you want to talk, I know last night was weird and all, but-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Wait… wh-what happened last night,” Keith interrupted._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Well, I don’t really want to talk about it through the door… wait, you don’t remember?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Not really, last night was such a blur and I’m not really feeling the best, like really bad actually.” He finally told Lance, as much as he didn’t want to, this sickness wasn’t going away and he needed to tell someone._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Lance jiggled the handle trying to get in, but Keith had locked it when he came in. “You have to let me in if you want my help.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Keith practically had to drag himself across the bathroom to reach the door, his body was giving up. He unlocked the door and twisted the handle._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________When Lance entered, his jaw dropped at the sight of a half-naked Keith laying on the floor. It dropped even more when he saw his leg. “What the hell happened to your leg, it looks infected?” The infection ran from the base of his heel up under his boxers and the tiniest bit was peeking out over the top of his boxers_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“I… I don’t really know.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Well, I’m calling Pidge, she needs to see this.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Lance pulled out his phone and dialed her number._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The phone rang a couple of times before she picked up, “Hey, Lance, what’s up,” she answered._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“I think you need to see this.” He clicked the little icon to turn the camera around and pointed it to Keith’s leg. “Something is seriously not right with this, do you know what this is?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________There was a long silence on the other end of the phone followed by, “Matt, I need you to grab that vile and follow me.” The camera flipped to her face and she looked worried. “I’ll be there in a bit, just try to keep Keith calm, don’t let him out of your sight.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“W-wait, wh-what, why do I have to-” It was no use, the call was ended and it was back to just the two of them._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Keith was crawling back across the floor to the toilet, hanging his head over it once more. Lance stumbled over and pulled his hair back just in time._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The waves of nausea just kept coming, crashing into him and making his body just that much weaker. This was the worst feeling he had ever felt and that’s saying something with as much as he got knocked around during the war. His vision was blurring again, he could just barely feel lances hand rubbing his back and then..._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof sorry y'all, I've been seriously debating taking this down and rewriting it, but thanks to some encouraging words I shall finish. Y'all know who you are and I love y'all for it.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith loses himself and fighting ensues.

Lance ran over to help Keith by holding his hair out of his face. This was bad, how long had Keith been keeping this from him? He wanted to ask, no, he wanted to yell. He was furious that Keith would keep something life-threatening from him. But, he couldn’t because this boy was literally hanging his head over the toilet puking his guts out. So, Lance just held his hair back. Although he was curious as to why Pidge told him to keep a close eye on him, it wasn’t like he was just going to get up and leave, and what would it matter if he left?

Just as the thought crossed his mind he felt a sudden jolt and Keith’s hair was pulled from his hands. He looked down to see Keith staring back up at him, his eyes had changed again. They were the same as they had been the night before, black, glossed over and… terrified, that was new. Keith looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“Keith, what’s wro-” Lance extended his hand to touch Keith’s cheek, but Keith quickly smacked it away.

“D-don’t touch me.”

“Keith, hey, buddy, I’m just trying to help you.”

“I said don’t touch me!” He pushed Lance back against the wall and bolted for the door.

“Keith… wait… where are you going?” Pidge’s words played through his head like they were mocking him. He’d let Keith run away from him. The only question was, why was he running away from him?

Chasing him out of the bathroom, he stopped dead in the doorway when he was met with a blade-wielding Keith. “Woah, dude, put that thing down, you could hurt someone with that.”

“Shut up, stay the hell away from me.”

Where was this coming from? Lance took a step forward and Keith swung the blade at him. It almost nicked him when it grew mid-swing, Lance had to duck back to avoid it. “Keith, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“It’s not me that something’s wrong with.”

“What are you talking abo-” The blade swung at him again and this time he seriously had to move to avoid it. “Are you trying to kill me you, idiot?”

“I can tell you’re not the real Lance, tell me where he is, NOW!”

The… real… Lance, last he checked he was the real Lance unless he died and Allura transferred his energy and he just didn’t remember, but he was pretty sure that never happened. “Keith, it’s me, it’s Lance, the ‘real’ Lance.”

“I don’t believe you, your eyes give you away, black and lifeless.” 

But that was an exact description of Keith’s eyes right now, not Lance’s. He even turned and looked in the mirror to make sure they were still blue and they were. 

Hunk came around the corner and froze when he saw the situation. “Uh, Lance, what did you do to piss him off this time?”

“Hunk, something’s wrong with Keith.”

“Keith, calm down and put the blade-” Hunk tried to slowly step towards Keith, but Keith swung his blade nearly missing Hunk’s face.

When Hunk jumped back, Keith took the advantage and ran for the front door. He threw the door open and before Lance could catch him, he was outside and running towards the fields.

“Hunk, we can’t let him out of our sight, Pidge's words.”

Hunk nodded and Lance grabbed his Bayard from his display case before chasing after him.

Keith was lost in the fields, unsure of where to go next. He was looking in all directions, stopping when he saw the other two running up on him. “P-please, just stay back.” His voice was shaky, his eyes wide.

“Keith, calm down, we just need to wait for Pidge and Matt to show up, they will help you.”

“I don’t want to be helped, did they _help _Lance and Hunk, hmm?”__

__“We are Lance and Hunk, no one is trying to hurt you right now.”_ _

__“Lies, he’s been sneaking up on me this whole time.” Keith spun around and swung at the yellow paladin sneaking up behind him._ _

__Lance jumped into action and his Bayard turned into the Altean broadsword. He’d only seen it the one time during training, so it was a bit of a shock for Keith when Lance stopped his attack with it._ _

__Keith jumped back and Lance helped Hunk back up. “Keith, I don’t want to fight you, but if you attack Hunk or I, I will defend us.”_ _

__A smirk crossed Keith’s face and he moved into a fighting stance. “Well, if you won’t tell me where the others are, then I guess I will just have to make you.” He launched himself at Lance, bringing his blade down with increasing force, a loud clang as there weapons collided, Lance’s feet sliding across the soft dirt from the force._ _

__Keith leaped back and attacked again. Lance was just trying to defend himself and Hunk, but also not hurt Keith in the process. He just had to hold off until the Holts showed up, then Pidge would fix everything, right?_ _

__“Keith, stop, I don’t want to fight you, your not you right now, you’re corrupted or something.”_ _

__Keith grabbed his head, crying out with the saddest, angriest cry Lance had ever heard. “Shut up, stop trying to turn this on me, you’re the corrupted one, not me.”_ _

__Off in the distance, lance spotted Pidge and Matt running through the field towards them. “Look, Pidge is here, she can help you.”_ _

__“I don’t want her help!” Keith swung at him again, *clang* their blades connected and Lance was pushed back another foot or so._ _

__“Lance, I thought I told you to keep an eye on him?” Pidge yelled as she and Matt came to a stop._ _

__“Oh, I kept my eye on him, he’s right here, see.” This probably wasn’t the best time to be a smartass, but he couldn’t help himself._ _

__“I need you to hold him down so I can give him this.”_ _

__“And what is that may I ask?”_ _

__“It’s the antidote to the creature's venom, now hold him down.”_ _

__“No one is holding me down, everyone stay back.” Keith was still holding Lance down and Lance had to use all of his force just to push the boy off of him. Damn, he forgot how strong Keith was._ _

__Hunk tried to sneak up on him again, but again, Keith spun around and swung at him. “Hunk, WATCH OUT!” Matt yelled. He was just barely able to jump back before getting sliced._ _

__“Pidge, why is Keith trying to kill us?” Hunk cried, crawling away as Lance jumped in between him and Keith._ _

__“It’s too long to explain right now, I’ll explain later, for now, I need him to stop moving.”_ _

__“We’re working on it,” Lance snapped._ _

__This was their chance, they had him surrounded, all they needed to do was get one of them on him to hold him down and they could end this fiasco. They all looked between them, exchanging glances as if talking to each other in silence. One last nod between the four of them and then all eyes were on Keith._ _

__Keith stepped back as Lance stepped toward him, Bayard ready to defend if need be. A pause when he noticed Matt and Hunk closing in on his sides. He was so focused on them that he didn’t hear the almost silent footsteps behind him. Pidge jumped on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. He flung her around, desperately trying to get her off. “Calm... down, Keith... I’m trying to... help you.”_ _

__He grabbed her arms that were around his neck and in one fail swoop, flipped her up over his head and onto the cold dirt. The syringe she had been carrying flew out of her hands and onto the ground. This meant trouble for the four, they needed to find that syringe and fast._ _

__Lance jumped in and defended Pidge while Matt helped her to her feet. Keith was in fight mode now, not that he hadn’t been before, it was just more intense now. If things went on like this much longer, Lance would have to actually fight him._ _

__That’s when he saw it, something glinting in the dirt, the syringe. He could almost reach it, he just needed to stretch his arms a little bit further and he would reach it._ _

__Finally, his fingers were on it and he was pulling it into his fist. He spun around and shoved the syringe into Keith’s arm. Keith dropped his blade and stumbled back. “Wh-what did you…” His eyes slowly transitioned back to normal and he was crashing… hard._ _

__Grabbing him as he fell, Lance guided him to the ground where he rested his head in his lap. “It’s gonna be okay Keithy, I got ya.”_ _

__“What the quiznak just happened, do either of you care to explain?” Hunk asked pointing to the Holt siblings._ _

__“Well, someone didn’t mention to me that Keith came to see him with some strange purple markings on his body.” Pidge shot a look at Matt._ _

__“And someone else forgot to mention the creature they were tracking down and bringing back to earth.” Matt returned her glare with equal intensity._ _

__“It doesn’t matter, can we please get Keith some help and maybe some clothes, he’s still in his boxers for crying out loud,” Lance said hoisting the sleeping boy into his arms._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ope!


End file.
